GSTA: Sinnoh
by Noteleks
Summary: 3rd sequel to GSTA; Sam if finally breaking out of phase 1 of his plan to rid the world of Team Galactic and into aciton. Armed with only his wits, daggers, and some help from Matt, he must take down a well-supplied and vast army that is commanded by Cyrus. Based off Platinum.
1. Chapter 1

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

The Battle Frontier basked in its own neon lights at night. Laughter, shouts, and the happy cries of pokémon mingled with the hoots of the noctowl of the surrounding forest and the songs of the kricketune. High within the stars of the night sky, the Battle Tower stopped its ambitious rise. No one was allowed into the top floors of the tower except the Frontier Brains, otherwise known among the Guild as the Prefects. All four were gathered that night with their strong and calm leader and the young man who seemed to always be at his side but did not have a title and was never mentioned as having a name in the two years he'd been around.

"So! What are we doing? Attacking? Let's get this over with quickly!" Palmer said, tapping his foot and squirming with impatience.

"Ah, I'm sure whatever we do it'll be fine. Everything's been going according to plan hasn't it?" Dahlia sang in response playing with a strand of hair, shooting a glance at Riley with her electric blue eyes.

As always, his face was partially hidden by the blue hat that he wore. His blue suit was neatly pressed and his golden necklace, the symbol of his longstanding noble family, reflected the soft light. His slate gray gaze flicked over to her and a small smile came to his lips. "It has. It's gone perfectly according to our plan…"

Thorton snorted. "_Our _plan? I think it's more of _your _plan. You haven't told us much about what's supposed to be happening."

"Oh, Thor-thor. Always the downer… All this lady's got to say is chill and let the man talk," Argenta interrupted, her gloved hand set coquettishly under her chin as she winked at Darach.

"I must concede," the dutiful valet responded, "I am sure that Lord Riley has this all under control. His family has always been highly regarded in the Guild."

Riley allowed himself a short, quiet chuckle before looking back up at them individually. "You have all fought my decisions every step of the way. I will admit, there were times when I wanted to explain to you what I was trying to do, but you all eventually came around. For that, I am grateful. At the advice of my… colleague here," he said, his soft but powerful voice easily heard, as he gestured at the younger man standing behind him. He didn't look at any of them, just smirked. "I opted to not tell you so that our plan would not be leaked out."

"So… By 'our plan' you're actually referring to you and your… bodyguard?" Thorton asked, trying to figure out the situation. He was frustrated. When he didn't know what was going on he could be pretty horrible, but he was normally rather kind otherwise.

Argenta bit the finger of her glove and flicked her magenta gaze over to him. "Huh… So he's got brains and brawn. What's your name, again? Oh, right, you don't speak."

Riley exchanged glances with him. He shrugged. "I suppose it's not my secret to tell. You are more than welcome to introduce yourself," Riley answered, talking to him.

He seemed to consider it for a moment before shrugging. "Ah- we're letting the cat out of the bag, might has well. You may have heard of me, my reputation is rather… outgoing. Sam of Hoenn, at your service. I'll be personally overseeing most missions concerning Team Galactic from here on out," he informed them with a mock bow and a smirk. He had a devious glint in his brown eyes.

Dahlia winked at him. "Aw… Hoenn. But, ooh… What brings the hot Hoenn to the snowy Sinnoh?" she sang.

He flicked a lock of his brown hair out of his eyes and raised his eyebrows. "Dear Dahlia, isn't it obvious? If you really must know, I am here because… of… Oh, what did I say this morning? It was pretty good…"

Riley smiled. "I believe it was, 'a large gathering of lunatics who...'"

"That's it! Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to make the world a better place by eradicating a large group of lunatics who haven't figured out that they're still on Earth yet," he stated with a completely straight face.

Argenta laughed heartily. "Oh, ho ho! _You_ I like!"

"Miss Argenta, this is hardly the time for such things."

Palmer interrupted as well, though more thoughtful. "Hoenn, eh? That reminds me of my honeymoon there so long ago with my dear wife-"

"Nobody wants to hear that, Palmer," Argenta cut him off. "But we can talk about me. I like talking about me."

Thorton, who'd been furiously typing on his odd little gadget interrupted. "Sam… According to Guild records… You're a very talented thief from Hoenn. Been a part of the Guild since you were very young… … Live around Slateport. And the current amount of gold and money you have tucked away is… … Unknown. History is also unknown."

"The fact that you actually looked me up is kinda creepy, kiddo," Sam answered.

Darach cut in again. "Please, can we get this back on track. Lady Caitlin does not know that I am missing at this moment. It is most imperative that I return to her as soon as possible."

"Fun hater!" Dahlia sang before sighing heavily and slouching in her chair.

"Of course, Darach. Much as I hate to interrupt this lovely banter, back to business… Actually, Sam, would you like to take over here?"

Sam shook his head. "Nope. It's all you."

"Of course. As you all well know, our actions have not been on the offensive but rather in favor of defensive. We rescued all thieves possible and retreated, letting Team Galactic seep in to the places we abandoned. I know that puzzled you and annoyed you, but it was all for this particular moment. We have been unable to locate Team Galactic's official base and trying to find it merely wasted lives. So we opted to draw them out by drawing our men back."

Palmer furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What? How is that supposed to work?"

Sam spoke up now. "It's pretty simple. As long as we were trying to fight them so directly, they were going to hide their base carefully to avoid notice. They expected us to keep trying to best them. When we started backing off, Team Galactic, who was winning at that point, thought that they'd won and the Guild had surrendered. So they took all the areas that we so kindly left for them, fully provisioned."

Thorton scowled. "I remember. Those were great and strategic safe houses for us and you just let them have them."

Dahlia interrupted excitedly. "Oh! It was bait! I don't know why, but that's bait!"

Riley took over again. "Exactly. We used those bases as bait and lured them into them."

"Okay, but why?" Argenta asked.

"Let me answer that by asking you a question in return. If you had just conquered an enemy stronghold and you wanted to stop them from taking it back, what would you do?"

Palmer snorted. "That's an easy one. You stake out a bunch of your men there with a strong leader. Same as we did before."

Darach smiled and cleaned his glasses. "Ah… So, because we couldn't find out where they were hiding, you used our own safe houses so they would gather in them, right where we _could_ get to them."

"Precisely," Riley responded. "I understand it was hard for you all to accept, but now the conditions are in our favor. Team Galactic is at ease and overconfident. They still believe that we're weak and because this information has only just been disclosed, they don't even know we're coming back. We have the element of surprise and a better army to fight back with, thanks to Sam and some other men and women who live by the blade."

"So… We're going to attack? FINALLY!" Palmer exclaimed.

"Yes. We're going to attack," Riley answered with a subtle smirk. "Sam will be taking care of most of the work. Our Captains will be able to come out and help, finally. With any luck and a lot skill, we can take the region back quickly and leave them reeling. We know that they are planning on doing something in Jubilife City tomorrow, so we'll start there and take the region back from there in order of importance and convenience. So, Oreburgh will be next, followed by Eterna City, Hearthome, and so on. I assume that there is no argument?"

"I mean, if we can do it, we have a good chance, but won't that plan leave us fighting a two-front war? Shouldn't we get Canalave City too?" Thorton pointed out.

Sam answered this time. "Technically speaking, yes. But our intel says that their base there is benign. It is literally just a container for some of their men. We're not anticipating too much trouble from them, but we'll have Byron on the lookout for us. Any other questions, comments, or concerns?"

"I think we'll take your silence as a no. Thank you for coming. I do not have need of you at the moment, but your support and discretion in this matter is very important to me. We will be calling out your men to occupy our reclaimed safe houses as we go. Sam will take care of contacting you. Valet Darach, you may go. I hope all is well with Lady Caitlin."

Darach rose quickly and bowed respectfully. "My lordship, she is as well as ever. But oddly adventurous now. I fear she wants to leave for Unova soon."

"Ah… That is… Unexpected. Keep her here if you can. But if she wishes to leave then allow her to go. She's not of the Guild but I was under the impression that her father hoped that she would pursue his old position and join us."

"Yes, sir. Thank you. Let me know if you require my assistance in any way." The valet left them then.

Palmer rose and stretched. "Yeeeep! Time for me to move on. I told a little spitfire bug catcher I'd battle him tonight! Gotta go!" he blurted out quickly before all but running out of the room.

Thorton shook his head as sighed. "That man needs be more careful." Down the hall they heard Darach yelp as Palmer probably trampled him. "I'll go see to Darach. Good night." Thorton strode out of the room, tapping on buttons on his odd hand-held device.

Argenta and Dahlia exchanged glances that had a spark of rivalry. Argenta spoke first. "Well… This lady needs to return to the Battle Hall… Bye bye, boys."

Dahlia followed behind her, though she was dancing more than walking and singing. She waved energetically and winked at them both before hopping outside. Sam closed the door behind her and returned to Riley's side, sitting in the chair that Argenta had been in.

"So... now what?"

Riley leaned back in his chair. "Well, we already got everything set up… Team Galactic is completely oblivious thanks to us keeping this so secret… I guess get your gear around and head out to Jubilife."

"Alright then… I guess I'll leave you on your own then. Try to stay out of trouble, Riles," Sam responded as he left. Riley rolled his eyes.

Sam strolled casually through the halls, the opposite direction that the Prefects went. The elevator was where they went, but Sam preferred stairs. Besides, the elevator would probably be full with the Prefects... And then there was the fact that he'd let Cat and Michael loose in there to play. It was fine though because no one ever used the stairs. He picked the lock and opened the door to the seemingly never-ending flights of stairs. As soon as he closed the door behind him with a distinct clack, Cat came bounding up the stairs, Michael close behind her. Sam picked her up and Michael flew to his shoulder.

"Hey, hey… I told you guys to at least behave while I was gone."

"_Cat waz gude! Cat iz allus gude!" _Cat retorted, offended by his insinuation.

"Oh, of course! How could I ever suspect my dear little Cat of doing something wrong? You're the pinnacle of purity, Cat."

"_Iz nae ah 'pinaple.' Iz a cat!" _Cat responded, miffed.

Sam sighed dramatically. "You always take those things the wrong way. I know you're a cat. I understand. I also understand that you _still_ refuse to grow a mustache."

Cat scowled. Michael growled in amusement. Cat smacked him and he hit her back. A slapping fight ensued between the two until Cat accidently hit Sam in the face.

"Okay, that's enough out of you two. Pretty soon, we'll be going back to exploring… Sinnoh. Speaking of which, Michael, take us home."

Michael obeyed instantly. The scene of a typical steel staircase and white walls vanished and in it's place came the visage of tropical trees and a very nice white villa. Cat jumped out of his arms and scampered towards the pool. Sam had, to entertain her, put a magikarp in there and she was always trying to swat the stupid thing. Michael always stood guard when she was outside and he left his shoulders now to watch over her, just in case. Sam wasn't worried about them here though. The whole island was under Guild control. It was the central base, the castle of castles. The resort area was the warmest and quietest of all the towns and Sam very much appreciated the warmer climate. Plus, it was Steven's villa that was here.

Sam walked in. Steven was sitting on the cream colored couch, reading. "Steven, I'm surprised you're still up. Isn't it a little late for you?"

"I wasn't going to go to bed until you came back. Had to make sure you made it since you never call or check in anymore," Steven returned with a glare over his reading glasses.

"Steven, you see me every day, though that just came to a close."

"So tomorrow marks Phase 2 of your plan? … … Great. And I suppose I'm just supposed to sit around and worry myself silly, huh?" Steven grumbled with a huff.

Sam chuckled. "Hardly. You're already silly, Steven... And your hair is already gray so you have nothing to worry about!"

"Little shit. Your gear came in. Two giant boxes of it."

"Right on schedule then," Sam responded, walking towards the boxes.

Steven went back to reading. "I thought you had still had your old gear. Didn't you have Briney make it for you, or something?"

"Yeah, he's good at putting things together. But he's not the best. Plus, I got rid of it all. Burned what would burn and buried what wouldn't, " Sam responded, sorting through his new stuff. He laid out a wide range of weapons, stopping to inspect each one.

"You… Why?"

"I didn't want it anymore. Bad memories. So I got rid of it. You can pretty much call it me running from the past."

"Wow… That's… Profound of you."

Sam laughed. "Isn't it? Don't ever let me do that again."

"Hmm… I agree. That was kinda weird." Steven went back to reading while Sam continued sorting through his things and went upstairs. Shortly thereafter, he came back down. Steven turned around when he heard the snaps of buckles to find that Sam had most of gear on. He zipped a gray sweater over a white shirt and pulled his necklace out from beneath the fabric. His black cargo pants had a lot of pockets and were held tight by a belt with a good-sized buckle on it. Already, Sam was attaching various items and pouches to the belt.

"Are you leaving _tonight_?"

Sam looked from what he was doing for only a moment before going back to putting his daggers in their sheaths. "Yeah. I have to talk to Matt, make sure he knows the plan and everything. Then I need to be in Jubilife City yet tonight. It's poetic for a hero to launch the first attack at dawn."

"You're not a hero, you're an idiot. If you were closer to me, I'd smack you for saying that."

"Good thing I'm over here then, huh?" he answered with a wry smile as he put on a second belt holding a bunch of what looked like very thick needles.

"What the hell are those?" Steven asked with a pointed and confused stare.

"Throwing knives. Designed them myself. They're light, small, and very sharp. I'll be working with some pretty sensitive stealth missions. I thought of everything. Or, I think I thought of everything… Well, it'd be nice to think that I thought of everything."

"You enjoyed that sentence, didn't you?"

Sam shrugged. "I admit I was amused." He snapped a thigh holster around his leg.

"Well, kudos. Why don't you admit that deep, deep down inside, you are just a little scared and worried about this while you're at it?"

Sam picked up the biggest dagger Steven had seen so far. The blade was smoked, so the light wouldn't reflect off of it. Sam flipped in the air and tested the balance. He smirked with satisfaction before sheathing that one at his thigh. He picked up another dagger very similar, but smaller than the other and sheathed it behind his back as he answered, "Steven, everything will be fine as long as this goes according to plan. I made a deal with Riles and I have just enough honor to hold up my end of a bargain."

"I suppose I should encourage such noble behavior from you… But today I just don't want to," Steven sighed.

"That's alright. It's not like I enjoy hearing you nag at me," Sam teased. He put his combat boots on. They were a special pair designed for the cold weather he was sure to encounter. "Now… I have to go. And, by the way, I had Matt put some special tech-deal in my phone so if you call me and I can't answer, it immediately goes to him and he can tell you where I am and if I'm safe. I thought that'd make you feel better."

Steven sat up and turned to look at him. "Did you really think of me and do that for _me_?"

Sam shrugged as he put on his jacket. "Don't worry about it, Steven. I won't make a habit of it."

"You're ruining the moment. I'm actually rather touched."

"I know. I'm not really interested in having to deal with you going all emotional father on me."

Steven rolled his eyes. "Right, right…"

"Actually, out of curiosity. How and why did you get this house?"

Steven frowned. "It was a gift from my father. I don't want it, but I figured I'd make use of it since you needed a place to stay."

"Well, thanks. I guess. Though, if you don't want it, you should just sell it."

"I'll humor you… For how much?"

"I don't know. How much is it worth to you?"

"Not a cent."

"Then give it away. Charity: It's good for your soul," Sam told him with his customary crooked grin.

Steven laughed flatly. "My soul is in far better condition than yours. Now go, before I decide to have my 'emotional father' moment."

"Roger that. See you later."

* * *

In his small but impressively furbished and renovated apartment, Matt was programming the final touches on the headset, a small thing that hooked around the ear with a microphone that came down to about the cheek, and running tests on the program he'd set up. He was very focused and he had his headphones on and playing music loudly so he had no idea that Sam had come in. All of the sudden, in his mind, Sam was just randomly right beside him.

"Is everything ready?"

Matt threw the headset up, flung himself back, ripped the headphones off his ears, and shrieked instantly. Sam caught the headset as Matt all but hyperventilated.

"I take it this will be how I'll be communicating with you… … How's it work?" He asked, ignoring Matt's panic attack.

"Could you… Make some noise when you come in. For the sake of my mental health! Arceus…" Matt complained, still freaking out and actually shaking.

Sam gave him a sarcastic look. "Soil yourself later, Matt. Tell me how this thing works."

Matt rolled his desk chair back and snatched the set from his hands. "It's not finished just yet. I was working on it when you decided to randomly appear."

"Just finish with it already! You're going to have to be up around four tomorrow, we're taking out the trash in Jubilife."

"Four! Why? Why on earth do you want to try to do something like that at half past stupid in the morning? How often do you pull all-nighters, seriously?" Matt ranted as he rearranged some wires and put batteries into the headset, surprisingly gentle considering his rant.

"More often then I'm inclined to admit. More importantly, is it done now? Does it work?"

"Of course it works," Matt scoffed, still bitter. He handed it to Sam, who turned it over in his hands a few times with a bemused expression.

"How does it work?"

"Augh! Arceus, you're so technologically-challenged! Give it here. I made this as simple as possible for you. Power button, right here."

"That is switch, not a button," Sam pointed out.

"Shut up, you don't get to be technical with me. This turns it on. This turns it off. I'll be your crazy eagle eyes that can see through walls. I already have my program set up and I'll set this puppy on the security cameras in the… I assume the TV station. Should be pretty quick." Matt handed him the set. Sam toyed with it.

"So this is your new uniform and gear?" Matt asked, checking it out. Sam nodded distractedly. "I like it… It's pretty hot."

Sam almost dropped the headset with surprise. He caught it quickly and then shot a glare at Matt.

"What?"

"Keep _those_ thoughts to yourself."

"Hmm…. Someday, you'll go for it," Matt countered.

Sam shook his head and rolled his eyes. "No… Just… No. Never."

"That's what they all say," Matt commented with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Not even in your dreams," Sam returned coldly and left quickly.

* * *

Life was still on the soggy beach of Pastoria City. The sun was setting, turning the sky crimson. A man still wearing his sailor uniform sat on a mostly dry rock. His coffee-colored hair was too short to be moved by the wind and the white uniform was tight on his muscular frame. His two children played happily in the sand unaware or how unsettled their father was by the red sunset. He knew the old legends that surrounded it. He was typically not given to such tales, but tonight it just seemed foreboding as dark clouds seeped over the horizon. His magenta eyes moved from the sky to the odd ship that was drifting silently towards the shore. His daughter grabbed his arm, magenta eyes just like his looked up at him curiously.

"Papa? Why's the sky red?" she asked him. She was almost seven, and full of questions.

He smiled. "Because the sun is setting. Go back to playing, sweetheart."

She grinned and went back to the sand castle she was constructing with her younger brother. He looked back at the ship. It had drifted even closer to the shore, the ship coming very close to the two others that had been blockading the bay for two years. Something about the other boat just seemed... sinister.

His wife, a compassionate woman with gray eyes like silver coins and thick blond hair that curled at her slender neck, stood on the doorstep and called them for supper. Their home was right on the shore. The children ran inside but he lingered. She walked out of the house to him and embraced him, her short, hourglass body pressed against his.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He tore his eyes from the ship that so unsettled him to look at her. "I don't know. My gut is telling me there's something bad on that ship."

She looked at it, and shivered. She turned her face away. "Just don't worry about it. We'll go inside and mind our own business. Whatever it is, I don't want to get involved."

He walked with her back inside, but he couldn't help but worry about that odd ship. He stood at the window and watched carefully. The ship had passed through and was at the shore. _The ships moved for that one? What is on board?_

Curiosity kept him rooted to the spot. An older man, stooped over with a short neck and mauve hair, limped towards the shore as the ship nosed it. He was wearing a white lab coat and had orange, circular specs over his droopy eyes. A walkway extended from the ship and hit the shore with a thud. The elder man approached curiously. From the depths of the hold, a woman with curvaceous body emerged. She wore a tight black dress, curly midnight black locks of hair spilt down her back, and she wore a black, wide-brimmed hat with a veil that covered most of her face. Even the older man looked timid. At her side was a young boy with almost white hair and blue eyes wearing a nice sweater and a pair of shorts.

After pausing for just a moment, clearly sizing up the gimpy man before her with disgust, she descended down the walkway, her heeled boots landing with a distinct clack. The boy followed, silent as a ghost and as pale as one.

Within the house, the sailor jumped as his wife touched his arm, her eyes on the scene confused and scared. They both watched, their children unaware of the danger just outside on their doorstep. He couldn't bring himself to leave the window.

They could barely hear the exchange of words outside.

The old man said something about his boss. The woman, her gravelly voice dripping with contempt, demanded to be taken to his boss. He bobbed his head nervously. She stopped him for a moment, pulling up her veil. It wasn't until that moment that the golden G on the man's shirt could be seen. The sailor put two and two together quickly... But not fast enough. Only a bizarre and skull-crushing flash of pain was felt for a brief instant just after he heard the window shatter. While looking at the elder man, he missed the woman take something from the hands of the little boy and aim it at him. Another blast and his wife fell beside him, their blood mixing on the floor.

Their children screamed and sobbed. The little boy ran hid underneath the bed. The little girl sobbed and tried to awaken her fallen parents. The door opened behind her as she rocked back and forth, trying to comfort herself. She heard the clacks of heels and turned to see a woman in black with crimson eyes looking down at her coldly.

"Hmm… It works as it should. Impressive." She blew the smoke away from the tip of an L-shaped piece of metal that was better known as a handgun, though not to a child who had never known such violence and the weapons of destruction.

An old man hopped inside behind her, cowering. "What… Is that? Is it a gun? Where did you get that?"

"Mr. Charon, I do not have a spare to sell. It is an old family heirloom that has been passed down for generations. This was merely to test its capabilities, and I am pleased with the results."

"What about the children?"

Her crimson red eyes sparkled. "Vidar, would you like some playmates while we're here? There's another boy beneath the bed."

The boy beside her looked at the older girl before him emotionlessly. "No."

"Then they serve no purpose."

Two more blasts sounded.

* * *

The police came the next morning to investigate but found nothing. No fingerprints. Not even a hair. The house was cleansed and put up for sale. A tutor for pokémon bought the house four days later, desperate for a place to live. He moved his stuff in and boxes littered the floor. The neighborhood opted to forget the people there ever existed. No one ever spoke of it and police kept the crime secret to avoid public panic. It was just another incident dipped in blood added to the list of cold cases.

* * *

**AN: **The first chapter of Sinnoh, me hearties! For the record... I debated the last part with the Madame for a very long time. I kept asking myself; self, Are you _really _that terrible? ... Well, self, I think that the Madame _is _that terrible. I will make the moral sacrifice to write her perfectly. Yep. But it kinda gives you a glimpse at her... Mindset. If you don't serve a purpose than you can die. Bam. Just that simple.

Anyhoo, big thank you to my friend and beta, DarkAngelTorchic! Her fan fic, 'Set Yourself On Fire' comes highly recommended. Well, I, and all her readers, recommend it, anyway...

But what to the ever, moving on... As I stated previous, I am super stoked for the OC's that have been submitted thus far!

Also, Sinnoh is looking to be 22 chapters long (with Epilogue)... And all chapters are over 4,000 words... Actually, borderline 5000. Hahaha... Well, enjoy my friends this arc... It will entertain you, I am confident.

**Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

No copyright infringement intended.

*The events of this chapter are entirely made up by yours truly. Chronologically, the happen before you even start your journey.

* * *

The songs of the night pokémon faded as the sun began to rise, replaced by the chirps of the early birds. Sam had been in Jubilife all night, waiting patiently from the top of his vantage point on the roof of an apartment nearest to the south entrance of the city. He sat on the ledge, watching the streets like a gargoyle, Cat and Michael sleeping beside him. Sinnoh mornings were pretty chilly to any normal inhabitant so to Sam, it might as well have been snowing. He tucked his hands into his pockets. The fact that he could see his breath bothered him. A few trainers were already up and around, some already on their way to train. The hardcore athletes were up and running and the smell of coffee from the café was floating on the air. The neon lights of Global Terminal lost their luster in the incoming light of the sun.

Matt's sleepy voice cut across the still morning. "We've got some Martians on your eleven o'clock. Big group, about fifteen… Maybe fourteen."

"Which is it, fifteen or fourteen?" Sam asked, amused.

"Hell, I don't know. It's too early to count right."

Sam laughed. "Right… Just make sure you've got eyes on Jubilife TV and I'm also thinking that the Global Terminal might be a choice pick for them. I doubt they came to go to school. They tend to be fairly illiterate."

"And you're not?"

"Hey! I can read just fine. Just… Ah, wait. I see our space fiends. There's… Seventeen… And they seem to be following a man as their leader… Green hair? And one funny looking uniform."

"Aren't they all funny looking?"

"Shh… Let's see where they're going." Sam watched intently. The small platoon made it down the first stretch of the street and to the first intersection. The leader turned left and up to Jubilife TV with a group of eight grunts following him. The other group of eight kept walking down the street.

"Ha! Called it! Commercials, man. I told you."

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't question you. Looks like this group is heading for the Global Terminal though," Sam answered.

"Ah.. Well, that's a problem. I can't hack into their cameras. That place is tech'd up like no other. The firewalls that protect their firewalls have firewalls."

"Alright, I'll take care of it."

As the group got closer Sam pulled out some throwing knives and a walkie-talkie that connected him to a group of thieves from the city that he'd pulled into his temporary command.

"We've got a group of Martians… Eight. I'll take out two and throw a smoke bomb. That's your cue to get them. Try not to make a mess."

"Roger that."

With the group of Galactic grunts at the base of the building that he'd chosen as his perch, Sam threw two throwing knives at the two grunts that made up the rear of the group. He then pulled a smoke bomb from his belt, took the pin out and threw it into the center of the group. A small flash and a quiet bang, and the smoke seeped out of the small container. The noise woke both Cat and Michael up and they looked at him with curiosity.

"It's alright guys. You two just stay here and I'll be back shortly," Sam answered, petting them both on the head quickly. Michael made a soft grumbling noise and curled back up. Cat yawned and did the same.

Sam pulled out his grappling hook, caught it firmly on the ledge, and slid down the face of the building. The crew of thieves had jumped into the smoke and finished off the last six guards and they were already dragging the bodies off the streets. Sam approached one of the thieves, a younger woman with dark skin and dark hair.

"Make sure that there's no evidence left. I'll open the way for you guys into the TV Station. Follow up and clean up behind me." He pulled his two throwing knives out of the bodies of the two grunts. One was still alive since the knife missed and buried harmlessly in his shoulder.

"This one's still alive. Two of you take him to that building and make him talk. Figure out what they wanted with the Global Terminal and Jubilife TV. If he talks before I get there, go ahead and kill him. If not, wait for me and I'll get him to talk," Sam ordered with a point back to the safe house he'd been sitting on the roof of.

The woman nodded. "Of course." She turned and started barking orders out at them. They didn't seem particularly pleased with her being in charge, but it was understood that Sam had placed her in charge and they had no interest in arguing with him. They responded quickly and efficiently. Sam headed up the street quickly. The other half of the platoon of grunts had already entered the TV station. Two hefty looking men guarded the doors now, but they'd probably opened them from Team Galactic. While the common man didn't know Team Galactic, almost every rich man was feeling the pressure of Team Galactic's influence. If they wanted into the Jubilife TV station, they were granted access. No questions asked. Someone random and armed with weapons like Sam would definitely not be given permission to enter.

Sam paused at the fountain and stood behind the nearby tree as he thought things through. _I could beat them, but it'd make some noise and I don't want to alert Team Galactic in the process. A smoke bomb so close would also alert them. I don't want to kill these guards either…_

"What's wrong, Sam? Get in there."

"I can't just yet… Have to get past the guards," Sam answered, looking at the building still trying to figure out an option.

"Well, figure it out fast. The leader is already talking to the Director."

Sam sighed with frustration.

"Need some help?" a gravely female voice purred from behind him. He turned around. The woman was fairly tall with a busty build. She had high leather boots, leather pants, and a leather jacket over a black v-neck top. Her platinum hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, her bangs left framing her face.

Sam answered her innocently. "Help? What makes you think I need any- why?"

She smirked, a twinkle in her vivid pink eyes. "You need in the building, right? I can help." She pulled off a boot and loosed her hair. Then she took off her jacket and the shirt underneath and set the items in his arms. "Hold these."

She brushed him aside coolly and approached the guards feigning injury. By the time she got there, tears were streaming down her cheeks and she clung to one of the guard's uniforms as she pointed down the street. The guards exchanged glances and took off after some fiend she's invented.

Sam was so shocked that gaping at her was the extent of what he could do.

Matt cut in. "Sam, focus! Give the woman her clothes. Arceus!"

Sam snapped out of it at Matt's outburst. She looked back at him, and he smiled as walked up to her, returning her clothes. "I suppose I should say thanks."

"Heh, don't worry about it. I-"

"Sam- again, focus! Forget about the half-naked girl and get to work," Matt snapped at him, impatiently.

"I need to go… Thanks for the help," he interrupted quickly. He set the clothes on the ground and stepped inside the building.

"You sound upset… Are you jealous?" Sam whispered quietly, unsure if there was a guard nearby or not. He opened a large window on the west side of the building as quietly as possible and propped it open.

"Hmph! Indeed. Men. You see a pretty woman and you are completely distracted. It's ridiculous."

"And I suppose it's far better to be distracted by other men?" Sam returned.

Matt paused. "Well, just consider yourself lucky that men in funny space uniforms does nothing for me."

"That was more information than I needed."

"Yes, well, anyway- there's one Galactiguard in front of the staircase. He's dozing off right now. Up the stairs is another Galactiguard. On the third floor, there are two guards on the staircase leading up and two more at the top of the stairs. The leader is talking with the director and he's got two grunts with him. That's all. Go get 'em, tiger."

Sam nodded, knowing that Matt could see him. The lobby was empty, save for the lottery corner receptionist, Felicity, who apparently had no problem with him being there, and the Galactic guard, or the Galactiguard as Matt put it. The guard really was dozing off, his head listing to the side and resting on the wall and he was rocking on his feet. Sam crept up to him, ducking in the cover of the stairs. Seeing the still quiet features, Sam ventured in front of him. He started pulling the dagger out from behind his back when the man started to wake up because of the sound. Sam wasted no time. The dagger whipped out and sliced through the man's throat. He fell with a very quiet gurgle. Sam caught him and set him on the floor gently before climbing up the stairs.

"Okay, now right up the staircase is another guard. Take him out and that will take care of the second floor. The third floor will be tricky, though."

Sam tapped on the mic to let Matt know that he understood. The guard in front of him was a woman. She was probably new because the silly wig she wore still itched apparently. Sam snuck up behind her soundlessly. He clamped a hand over her mouth and ripped through her neck with his dagger. He kept hold of her, not letting her fall with any noise. He set her down on the stairs carefully so she wouldn't fall down them. He stepped over the body and continued up the next flight of stairs.

The next two would be tricky for sure. The guards were right at the base of the steps to the fourth floor and they were awake. _I can't approach them dead on… Not without them calling for help. This needs to be secret… _The staircase was walled like the other. Sam crouched in the cover of it. He pulled out a smoke grenade. _It would make it so they can't see me, but it's too loud, they'll all know something's up. Plus the smoke would set off the fire alarm. But I need a distraction…_

Suddenly, an idea formed. Sam turned around quickly and went back down the stairs where there was a little pokémon salon where people could dress up their own pokémon to take pictures. He ran inside, sliding slightly on the very clean floor. The janitor, an old man with gray hair that stuck out of his hat in tufts and a bulbous hooked nose just stared at him. He put his mop back in his bucket and waited. Sam tried to open the door into the back room where the accessories were kept but the door was locked.

"You gonna need keys…" the janitor told him, totally calm as he sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

Sam gave him a weird look. The janitor pulled a ring of keys from his belt. "'Ere… I don't know which key it is."

Sam caught the keys thrown at him. "Uh… Thanks? I guess…" He looked through the rings of keys and found the one with a heart on it, figuring that it would be the right one. He was right. The door opened. He moved past the photo shoot areas and to the closet in the back. He kicked the door down. Inside were a bunch of boxes. He took a bunch down and opened them quickly and dug through the boxes for anything he could use. He took out a good-sized bag of glitter.

_That could work… Who isn't distracted by glitter? _Sam pulled out a blue ribbon and a flag. He ripped the flag off the pole it was on and emptied the bag of glitter onto it. He bundled it up and tied it loosely with the ribbon. He dug back through the boxes for another ribbon but pulled out a spring instead. He tied one end of the ribbon to the spring. Looking up he saw plastic stump, a small carpet, and a big plastic cube. Without hesitating he grabbed those too and tucked the glitter bomb into a pocket. He threw the keys back to the janitor as he ran out.

The janitor looked at the keys on the floor and watched him go, totally calm. "A'right, bye…"

Sam had to force himself to walk quietly up the stairs and back to the third floor. He got back to his old spot behind the stairs. He laid the carpet down first to minimize the noise. He put the stump down next and then the cube on top. It gave him enough height to get the glitter above their heads. Sam grabbed the glitter bomb by the spring and threw it. The spring extended above their heads before starting to come back. The loosely tied knot came undone as the spring pulled on it and the glitter was loosed. Sam quickly jumped down from his tower of cheap plastic. The grunts batted furiously at the glitter that was sticking to them and turned around, trying to figure out where the glitter had come from. One leaned over the railing and saw the pile of plastic.

"What the hell?"

With both guards distracted Sam had moved in front of them. He threw two throwing knives, both finding their mark at the base of the skull. They fell and Sam pulled the throwing knives out and put them back in his belt. Sam pulled his two real daggers out and quickly walked up the stairs. The two guards were on either side of the doorway. Sam got in between them and slammed the daggers into their throats.

Matt spoke up again. "Alright. The boss is still talking to the director. There are two guards with him but they're facing the other direction. From what I can tell, the director is being blackmailed. I don't think he'll mind you putting an end to them."

Sam crept forward. A woman in a blue uniform was cowering by the elevator. Sam held a finger to his lips. She nodded in understanding and didn't say a word. He moved along the wall slowly, one step at a time. At the end, he peeked around the corner. The leader of the grunts had the director sitting at a big desk in the back of the room. He had a bunch of papers in front of him. The leader was talking, but Sam wasn't listening. He'd find out what he needed to know soon enough.

Matt cut in again. "Thieves are coming in and cleaning up… And so is the janitor. I guess." Sam tapped on the microphone in response. He surveyed the room.

_First guard, five steps away. A knife in the back will take care of him quietly and hide body behind the couch. Second guard, three steps forward to the left. Move to the guard's left so if he turns he won't see me. Stab him in the back before the leader knows. Leader, three more steps. He'll probably turn around, hard to say which way. I'll move to his right._

Sam came out from the wall. The Director's eyes were too focused on the paper to see him. Four quick steps brought him up to the first guard. He clamped a hand over his mouth and dug the blade deep into the back of his neck. He laid the body down and used the couch as cover as he snuck towards the other guard. The guard started to turn to the right, as Sam predicted. The Director saw him this time as he killed the guard and his eyes widened. The leader was sure to turn around.

Sam started to take a step to the right but retracted it when he saw the man start to turn that way. Quickly and soundlessly, Sam turned on his heel quickly, turning all the way around so he was standing right in front of the desk. His right hand, and the blade it carried already in the other man's throat. He fell with a slight gurgle. Sam quickly checked the fallen commander's pockets, pulling out orders, research, a phone, and a small wad of cash.

The Director stammered. "W-Who are you?"

Sam glanced at him and shrugged. "A friend." He pocketed the items quickly and wiped the bloody dagger off on the leader's uniform. "Matt, erase the tapes. Make sure there's nothing left to find."

Sam started to walk away, but turned back. "Just so we're clear- this never happened. I don't exist. If you try to air anything about this, you might find that you won't wake up the next morning."

The Director slumped back in his chair with a bemused expression. "I… I understand." Sam nodded and left, stepping over the bodies. The thieves ran in grabbing the bodies and taking care of things. The janitor was already working on cleaning up the glitter- actually trying to vacuum over the bodies. Sam shook his head and just kept walking.

The dark skinned woman with the scarlet hair approached him before he left. "We have that grunt tied up in a room next to the one you're staying in on the top floor."

"Alright. Thanks."

Outside the woman who'd helped him earlier was still there. She was sitting primly at the water fountain. Sam smiled at her as she waved to him.

"… You're looking at that girl again, aren't you? Well, stop it because-" Sam cut Matt short by removing the headset and putting it safely in his pocket. He sat beside her.

"You waited for me?"

She shrugged. "I was just so curious… Why did you need to go inside and why with so many weapons? And I assume those other people were friends of yours."

Sam smiled disarmingly. "Can't tell you. That's some pretty top-secret stuff after all."

"Ah… Well, how about a name then?" she asked with a small smirk.

"Sam."

"I'm Shannon." She leaned over put a piece of paper in the chest pocket of his jacket. "Well, Sam, here is my number. Why don't you call me next time you need some help, hm?"

He smirked back at her, that devious look coming to his face. "And if I don't need your help?"

"You can call anyway." She leaned over a planted a soft kiss on his lips before walking away. Sam continued to sit with self-satisfied smirk. After a few moments, he pulled out the headpiece and turned it back on.

"Anyway… You were saying?"

"I hate you… You know I saw that, right?" Sam shrugged carelessly. Matt sighed. "Alright… Fine. I see how it is… Anyway, I assume that you're going to go and scare the shit out of that grunt now, huh?"

"Yeah… I'll head out to Oreburgh in the afternoon. Until then, you're welcome to go back to sleep."

"Great because that is exactly what I am going to do… right now! G to the night." Sam heard a faint click and assumed that Matt had left. He turned his off and put it inside his pocket. He walked back to safe house complex. He heard his comrades running to catch to him and paused. They flocked around him and the woman with the dark hair seemed to be inching away from the clamor.

Sam turned to the thieves behind him and dismissed them and approached the woman curiously. He came up beside her easily and smiled at her. It was the first time Sam really got a good look at her face... Not that there was much to say about it. She was a very... Plain looking girl. Though her outfit was just a little odd with her hazel aviator jacket.

"Do... Do you n-need something?" she asked, stammering and giving him a suspicious look.

"Nah, just wanted to talk... You don't seem to be with those other guys... I thought most of the thieves around here were under Dahlia?"

She wrinkled her nose in distaste and turned away, hiding her face. "Hmph. Well, I-I'm not... I'm not one of them... J-just a freelance thief who got p-pulled in to help out," she stuttered flatly as a blush spread across her face.

"Ah... I see," Sam responded thoughtfully. He shrugged and sighed dramatically. "A freelance thief... Those were the good ol' days." She didn't respond at all, she just seemed very uncomfortable, which Sam found oddly adorable. He continued on, flashing a charming smile at her. "I can't catch a break now. Being the best really is a curse."

Her brown eyes took on a look of sadness and a twinge of regret. "Yes... It is."

Sam raised his eyebrows, stopping in front of the apartment complex that contained the Galactic grunt he would have to deal with. "... Have we met before? I get the feeling that I should know you now."

She stopped and extended her hand, nervously. "My name's Nolyn... Nolyn Goulding."

He tried not to show his surprise at putting her face to the rather famous name. Nolyn was, like him, one of the best. And, like him, she didn't want anything to do with it all. Lucky her, she wasn't forced into most of this crap. Sam smiled at her warmly and shook her hand. "I'm Sam, but you probably already knew that." She nodded shyly and shrugged a little.

"Mighty glad to have such a capable woman helping me out," Sam responded with a wry smirk.

Nolyn gave the ground a glare that made it clear she was not amused. "I didn't want any of this," she muttered unhappily.

Sam was about to respond when a Mawile toddled out of the door of the apartment complex and ran to Nolyn's side and growled viciously at Sam and snapped its jaws at him. Sam took a wary step back.

Nolyn shook her head at the Mawile. "Kake! Don't do that... I'm fine."

The Mawile, apparently named Kake, stopped and looked at her. She sighed and gave him a pat on the head. He seemed to settle down but continued giving Sam the stink eye.

Sam returned a wary glare to the pokemon. "He's charming..."

Nolyn rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. "Y-yeah... I... Gotta go." She hurried inside. Sam stood outside long enough to let her get a head start on wherever she was going before going in himself and taking the stairs to the top floor. He found two thieves leaning on either side of the door casually. Only one straightened up.

"I take it our friend is in there?" Sam asked.

The thief still leaning against the wall was a younger boy. "Yeah, he ain't talkin' though."

Sam smiled at the boy. "Well, let's see if I can't convince him otherwise." As he opened the door, he kept the friendly persona. The grunt was tied neatly to a chair, a big blood spot on his shoulder that was slowly spreading.

Sam sat on the table in front on him and pulled out his dagger, a friendly smile still present on his face. "Hello there… What's your name?"

The grunt scowled and gave him a confused look. "Uh… Adrian."

"Adrian? Nice to meet you." Sam got up and kicked the table back. The sound made the man jump nervously. Sam circled him slowly, still toying the sharp dagger. "You seem like a nice guy, Adrian… Strong fellow. Good head on your shoulders. One problem- you're on Team Galactic's side. That's not a good thing for you. Diminishes your credit to nothing. Do you know what that means for you?"

The grunt shook his head, trying to keep him in sight but Sam kept to his blind spots.

"It means that I can kill you and I won't feel bad about it for a second. So here's the deal… You tell me who your boss is, why you came to Jubilife City, and what Team Galactic is planning grand scale in pristine detail and I just may be inclined to show you mercy." Sam stopped behind his shoulder and set what would be friendly hand on his shoulder, but it was his injured shoulder and Sam mercilessly dug his finger into the wound. "So, what'll it be, my friend?"

Tears streamed down the man's cheeks and he yelped in pain. "Alright! Alright!"

Sam leaned closer. "Alright what?"

"I'll talk! Just stop!"

Sam relaxed his hand, but kept in on the man's shoulder. "I'm listening."

"Cyrus is the head and Erys is his righthand man. Then there's Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Proteus, and Charon. We came here with Proteus to make Jubilife air commercials in our favor and to play music that would make pokémon angry. We were going to take the Global Terminal to control contact with the other regions."

"Hmm… And what are Cyrus's long term goals?"

"He wants to re-create the universe in a way that would be beneficial to all people…"

Sam walked away from him, considering what he'd said. "So… Let me get this straight. You came here with…?"

"...Proteus."

"To take over Jubilife TV and communication in the world… All because this Cyrus wants to 'recreate' the world to suit his ideals, which you clearly know nothing about?" Sam asked, seeming entirely unimpressed. Adrian shrugged helplessly.

"That's ridiculous… … I'll buy it. No one would make that garbage up."

Adrian's face became very hopeful. "So… You'll let me go?"

Sam laughed. "Let you go? Who said anything about that? I planned to kill you all along. Mercy just means that I won't draw it out," Sam answered him, his friendly smile turning far more sinister. He threw out a knife quickly and this time, it went through his forehead. Sam pulled it back out and put it away before walking out calmly to pick up Cat and Michael.

* * *

**AN: **Woot! Chapter 2! And July 20th, 2012... The day Rise of the Dark Knight was released. Seriously- today should be a national holiday. That movie is why this is being published so late in the day. I saw the earliest matinée we could catch at the best theater 2 hours away. After all, only the best for Batman.

Well, I picked up another OC! Her name is... Nolyn Goulding [pronounced NOH-lan Gold-en] from Noir's Revenge! YES! And she appeared in this chapter (if you somehow didn't catch that.) She is a VERY interesting OC and she was very fun to write. I hope to get her another appearance at the end and... later yet... *ahem* Anyhoo...

Thanks to my beta and friend, DarkAngelTorchic! If you read TCatG, you should go read 'Set Yourself On Fire' because... Whoo boy, are you in for a wild ride. (I should know)

And now...

**Thank you for reading! (and reviewing if you are so kind.)**


	3. Chapter 3

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

The steady noise of water dropping from the stalactites overhead and machop and men working filled the mine. The workers ignored the presence of their Gym Leader and boss, but gawked and gossiped over the other man beside him. Roark and Sam stood beside each other, staring at a wooden crate in the southeast corner.

"And you're sure about this?" Sam asked, skeptically.

"You don't believe me?" Roark retorted, already irritated that he apparently needed some Hoenn hotshot to help him take back his own mine. But orders were orders so he would bear with it, though he planned to be in charge the whole time. Unfortunately for him, Sam had other ideas on how this was going to go down.

Sam looked back at the crate. "I find it hard to believe that they can get out with a giant crate on top."

"It's empty and it's not that heavy," Roark answered testily.

"There has to be another entrance. If we're going to do this, we need to find the other one so we can block it," Sam stated, ignoring Roark's tone. It wasn't like this was a first for him.

Roark paused, trying to find a suitable response.

Sam gave him a sarcastic look. "Okay, c'mon. Even I know they'd have a second exit in case the mine collapsed. It's common safety sense. Isn't that right, helmet head?"

"_Helmet head_?" Roark repeated, narrowing his eyes behind his glasses.

"Yes. Helmet head. Get used to nicknames because you failed to introduce yourself properly while you were so busy glaring at me yesterday. So, safety guru, any advice on how to move this crate without dropping it on our toes?"

Roark scowled, but grudgingly accepted the fact that Sam had made a point. Their first meeting with each other had not gone well. The second even worse. Thus far, Sam had been fairly decent back to him, all things considering. When Sam had introduced himself, Roark had been to busy scowling and growling to offer a name, though Sam had already known it. Though, he was right in saying that if Roark wasn't going to be pleasant, why should he?

"Truce."

Sam looked back at him with a flat stare. "What?"

"Truce. I call truce. No more."

Sam gave him a very suspicious look, then smiled and shrugged. "Apology accepted. This will go a lot smoother if we can actually work together. Now, back to moving this crate…?"

Roark whistled at a nearby machop and signaled for it to come over. The cheerful pokémon came over, happy to help. "Can you move this for us?"

The machop let out a cheerful cry, clearly a good-natured little fellow. Sam stepped aside. The machop clapped its hands and then gave the crate a hefty shove and it slid out of the way. Proud to have helped, the machop puffed out his little chest.

Roark smiled. "You're a buff little fella, aren't you? Thanks for your help. You better get back to what you were doing before."

Sam smiled back at the machop as it went back to the miner it had been helping. He looked back at the metal lid that almost looked like a sewer hole. "They're hiding… In there?"

"Yeah. It doesn't look like much, but they dug out the place. It's probably about the size of the museum by now."

Sam sighed. "Great." He pulled out his cell phone and called Matt quickly.

"Hey, Sam! So-"

"Not now. Did you manage to find a way to get into the cameras and stop their communication or whatever the hell it was you were going to do?"

"Ah… No. Sorry, but it's practically impossible to get any type of signal down there. But the good news is that their communication and cameras down there probably suck and there will be a pretty severe delay in the footage. Plus, if your cell phone doesn't work, theirs won't either."

"Alright… So we're equally handicapped. Well, that's all I needed. I'll see you later."

"Yes! Meet me in Jubilife City when you're done with Oreburgh. Okay? Okay?"

"Ugh… Fine." Sam hung up on him and set the phone back in its clip on his belt.

Roark gave him a look. "Everything taken care of?"

"More or less. We're going in alone and blind. You will follow me and I'll call you in when I need you."

Roark scowled. "Doesn't sound like I'm needed."

"Oh, you are. Trust me. Somewhere down there is going to be a huge cluster of them and you are going to be the one to pull out a bunch of pokémon and bash them all to nothing. I just pick off the stragglers before and after," Sam explained as he knelt down and examined the lid carefully. _No keyhole, locks… Nothing. This must be the other exit out. The real door is somewhere else... But I'll worry about that later._ He leaned down so his ear was almost touching the metal and listened carefully.

"Doesn't seem like anyone's around… Okay, let's make this quick." He pulled a small vial of oil from his belt and poured it carefully on the hinges of the lid, just to make sure it wouldn't make any noise. Once he was done, he lifted the metal lid open carefully; it made only a slight squeak. Leading into the darkness below was a ladder, fairly new looking. The lack of scratches and dents and the profound amount of dust further added to Sam's theory that it was just the emergency exit.

"Okay, you, stay here until I come back," Sam ordered and started climbing down the ladder as quietly as possible. The ladder was a good fifteen feet tall and let down into a tunnel almost ten feet tall. Sam dropped down to the stone floor carefully. The tunnel extended to the left, the right was just a solid rock wall. Along the way, beams held the earth above up and rafters crossed overhead. Sam looked up at them.

_If I can get up there, that'll reduce the chances of being caught while killing them… A grappling hook would work, but it might make too much noise. If need be, I'll do it but I'll try to find another way. _He looked around. The walls of the tunnel were rough with ledges jutting out everywhere. But even climbing up the wall was potentially dangerous; the sliding rocks might alarm any nearby guards and if he lost his grip and fell that would be bad for sure.

_I'll just have to find all the nearby guards first. _He left the ladder and walked down the tunnel carefully, catching the sound of someone walking and few others talking in aimless chatter. As he continued to listen, he realized that the footsteps were getting closer. Sam backed to the right side of the tunnel by the corner that turned right. A grunt walked past him and paused before starting to turn in his direction. Sam threw a knife that pierced the man's throat, cutting off his muttering about the uselessness of the patrol with an abrupt gurgle.

Sam waited before moving; listening to the other grunts to see if they'd heard the noise. Their chatter continued undisturbed. Sam grabbed the body and pulled it into the shadows where they wouldn't be able to see it and reclaimed his throwing knife before returning to his spot in the shadows of the corner.

"Heh… Ah, where do you guys think Brian got off to?"

Sam pulled further back into the shadows. The grunts laughed and joked for a bit longer before he heard footsteps coming his way to check up on their friend. _Sounds like there's three of them… _Sam looked around and saw a wide ledge behind him. He hesitated, but they were getting closer every moment and he needed to get out of sight. He climbed up it and to the one above, small pebbles slid down the wall as he did so, but the sound was mostly covered up by their voices. He climbed on to a rafter carefully as the grunts almost reached the corner.

"Brian? Brian? … Hey, man! Where did you… Go? Brian?" One of the grunts approached his fallen comrade carefully, the cheerful attitude leaving his face. Behind him, he heard a faint gurgling noise. Confused he turned around and only saw the flash of metal before everything went black.

* * *

Roark sat patiently, waiting for Sam to return. He didn't hear anything down below and he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Suddenly, Sam appeared and motioned him to come down. Roark did so as quietly as he could. He'd assumed at first that it would be easy to be as silent as Sam, but found that it was actually really difficult. Every movement he made seemed like it echoed. Once he reached the floor Sam continued down the hallway without hesitation. Roark followed, trying not to look at the dead grunts.

The tunnel took a turn to the right and then turned right again further down to form a U-shape. Sam stopped halfway down the second stretch and gave him a signal to stop. Sam kept going down to the second turn. He peeked around for a moment before coming back to Roark.

"Alright," he whispered, "there's another grunt down the hall. I'll take care of him. Don't move unless you hear someone coming, I'll be right back." Roark nodded. Sam walked past him and climbed up to the rafters carefully using the natural ledges in the wall of the mine. The beams were thick and used to holding up the weight of the tunnel, so the wood hardly creaked under the new weight that ghosted its length.

The guard at the end of the tunnel scuffed his boot in the dirt, unaware of the danger lurking above. Sam jumped down, slamming his dagger through the man's throat. His landing muffled since he had jumped on the grunt. On the way over, however, he'd noticed a small tunnel leading back west with a door into some room. Two grunts guarded this door, which made Sam very curious. He climbed back up to the rafters so he could kill them without a fuss. Once he was over their heads, he dropped down in between them and whipped out his two daggers into their chests. They made more noise than he liked, but they were dead and no one was around to hear them anymore.

Sam tried to open the door carefully, but it was locked. _I could pick a lock like this easily but… It might be best to just use the keys. _He turned around turned one grunt over, finding the keys attached to his belt. Sam cut the keys free and opened the door. He took one look inside and then turned back to get Roark. Whatever it was that was special about the disappointing pile of rocks, Roark would know.

Roark was sitting quietly on the floor. Sam gestured for him to follow and he got up quickly. They walked carefully past another tunnel heading further east into the mine. Sam took Roark to the door.

"Do you know what this stuff is?" Sam asked quietly.

Roark's eyes widened. He took off his glasses and cleaned them excitedly. "These… These are fossils! This is amazing!" He put his glasses back on and started going through the fossils.

Sam looked at what still appeared to be a rock to him skeptically. "Fossils?"

"Yes! These all contain pieces of DNA to ancient pokémon that scientists at the museum can bring back to life! This is a rampardos… This one is kabutops… Cradily, armaldo, bastiodon! I think they have all of them! And in such a huge quantity!" Roark told him, greatly excited by the rocks.

"So… Are these fossils _worth_ anything? Because they look pretty worthless to me," Sam commented flatly.

"Worth…? Why? You wouldn't really sell a fossil, would you?" Roark asked him in disbelief.

Sam gave him a sarcastic look. "I think you've vastly underestimated just how cheap I can be. Two grunts were guarding this door that means that something expensive is inside… Typically, I prefer something golden or just generally shiny. This room is filled with rocks. Not even shiny rocks. Just rocks with funny patterns on them."

Roark scowled. "Not all that glitters is gold."

"If it's shiny then someone will be willing to buy it. People like shiny," Sam returned, still eyeing the 'rocks' with distaste.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Me? What's wrong with _me_? I'm not the one fawning over a giant pile of useless rocks!"

"They aren't just rocks! They're_ fossils._"

"Fine. Glorified rocks."

Roark rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Okay, well, you examine these… _fossils_ and I'll go back to cleaning this dump out," Sam told him before leaving him to his piles of rocks. He walked back to the tunnel that led east into the heart of the mine. There was one grunt there, digging something out of the wall. Sam snuck up behind him and slit his throat. He approached the next tunnel that it met up with in T-shape. He peeked around and then immediately retreated after seeing that the tunnel was filled with grunts.

"Oh… This is going to be harder than I thought. I'll have to work backwards." Sam climbed onto the rafters yet again. From his high vantage point, he counted seven grunts, all absorbed in their task of mining. He sighed. _Arceus forbid this just be an easy task. Go to Sinnoh, they said. No different from Team Rocket, they said… … This is damn near ridiculous. They apparently didn't understand that with Team Rocket I was able to slaughter them all without much care for stealth once I was inside._

Sam sighed as he neared a group of three grunts standing next to each other. He was about to take care of them when he looked down another branch of the tunnel heading back east and realized that there was a grunt there as well. Mentally cursing at this new grunt he moved closer to him. Down that branch was yet another short branch heading north with two more grunts. These tunnels weren't near long enough and they were all standing too close to the other for Sam to just kill them quietly. _This is impossible._ He moved down to the other end of the tunnel and followed it as it turned east, then south, and east again in to a large room where there was a very large group of grunts and the leader of this joint, thoroughly marked by her extra gaudy clothing. _We move to plan B then._

Sam turned back and went to Roark, who still was carefully examining the fossils.

"Hey, you're up."

Roark looked up with alarm. "Me? Right now?"

"Yes, right now. Too many grunts over there. We're going to get you up in the rafters and drop you off in the big room where you can take care of them. I'll go back to take care of the grunts with a little more noise while you're doing that," Sam explained as he turned to walk back out.

Roark followed him. "Well, it's a good idea… But one problem."

Sam turned back to him. "And what's that?"

"I'm afraid of heights," Roark admitted.

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Are you serious?"

"I… It's an irrational fear, I can't help it!"

Sam rubbed at his eyes with obvious frustration. "You're making this difficult." He sighed. "Okay… Here's what I want you to do… Just walk right through to the room."

Roark stared at him skeptically. "Are you being serious because…"

"I know it doesn't sound like a good idea… But just walk right through like you belong here and they'll be so confused they won't do anything. Or at least, that's hopefully what will happen. I'll be up in the rafters and I'll take out any grunt who looks like trouble."

"Okay… I hope this works," Roark said, clearly still very skeptical about it.

"So do I because if I have to go back to Plan A, it's not going to be pretty."

Roark nodded and gave him a strange look. "Okay… So, where am I going, exactly?"

Sam motioned for him to follow. They stopped close to the intersection. Sam's voice dropped to a low whisper. "Take a left and then a right at the end of this tunnel and follow it. You'll end up in a room full of grunts. Release your pokémon and just go crazy on them. Forget rules of a fair fight because experience tells me that in all-out war there _aren't_ any rules."

"Got it… So I just seriously walk right down there?" Roark asked, still uneasy about it.

Sam nodded and gave him a shove before climbing up to the rafters. Roark took a deep breath and tried to relax so he looked calm and more like a legit visitor… _This has got to be the craziest thing I've ever done. _He straightened his jacket and his helmet and walked out into the tunnel. Along the walls, the grunts were working on chipping away at the walls, pulling out gems and pieces of metal. Roark kept walking, becoming more confident. None of them even turned to look at him.

_I can't believe this is working! _He passed four grunts, confidence turning his walk into an easy swagger. He saw the tunnel open up in front of him into what he assumed was the final room. He heard something drop behind him and turned around, startled.

Sam gave him a smirk and a nod of approval as the now dead grunt fell. Roark grinned and pulled out his pokémon. "My turn."

"Take out the commander first. And don't make me clean up behind you. Make sure they're dead," Sam told him.

Roark grinned. "After everything they've done- they're going to get a good taste of hard rock, all at once." He released all the pokémon he brought with him: an aerodactyl, a probopass, a rampardos, a golem, and a tyranitar.

Sam eyed the tough pokémon, all rippling with powerful muscle and all the physical power that great rock pokémon were known for. He smirked. "Just be careful you don't cause a cave-in," he warned before turning around and dispatching another grunt with a throwing knife. Roark grinned and entered the large room with the same confidence as before.

The commander looked up once, and then did a double take at the gym leader suddenly in their midst.

Roark had only one command to tell his pokémon. "Destroy everything."

* * *

Sam returned to the room as the dust finally settled. Roark was standing over the fallen commander. He looked up when Sam started clapping.

"Bravo… You made this a hell of a lot easier for me," Sam told him with a grin.

Roark glanced at him, a small hint of shock in his eyes as he saw the blood that had splattered onto Sam's clothes. "You… Take care of the others?"

"Dead is dead and this location is clear. Everyone here dead?"

Roark smirked. "You don't think my pokémon are tough enough to take down a few grunts?"

"Always best to double check," Sam returned with a careless shrug.

"They're buffed up enough to take on anything," Roark returned with a proud smirk.

Sam chuckled. "You remind me of a friend of mine… Ever met Brawley? Captain of Dewford?"

Roark shook his head. "No, but I've heard of him. Fighting type right?"

"Yeah, total surf head… He's a good guy, if not a little slow sometimes."

Roark smiled a little. "Yeah? You know... Maybe I… Misjudged you."

"Ha! I think we got started off on the completely wrong foot."

"Hahaha... That's true… I'd guess... Ah, I'm sorry. I've been sitting around in the gym just waiting for the cue to go at these assholes… And then I'm told that I needed some hot shot from Hoenn to take over? I wanted to do it myself, but I don't know what I would have done without you," Roark admitted hesitantly. Pride was hard thing to swallow.

Sam smiled at him and clapped him heartily on the back. "Ah, don't worry about it. No harm done. Now, let's go get those rocks of yours before we close this place up for good."

Roark laughed. "_Fossils_! For the last time, they aren't just rocks! And why can't we just leave them for now and come back for them?"

"We're going to have to close this place in so they can't come back."

"But… We can't collapse the mine! That would be dangerous for people living above it," Roark argued.

Sam sighed. "Okay, then… We'll need to… do something else." He looked at the nearby tunnel that lead back up to the surface as if the answer would be there and magically come to him.

"I have an idea." Roark released his rampardos. "Let's go outside." He walked up the outside. Sam followed him out of the darkness of the mine and into the heavily forested wilds and closed the door behind him.

"Hit your head into wall and create a rockslide to block this entrance," he commanded to his rampardos. The rampardos obeyed happily. It rammed its head into the cliff face several times. Roark and Sam both watched for signs that the mine was caving in, but other than the rocks sliding down the hill and effectively burying the entrance, the land didn't move.

"That mine was really built to last," Sam commented, impressed.

Roark snorted. "Well, that would make sense since you wouldn't want the place to fall-in on your workers and the materials inside."

"Hey… I've been in a cave-in before. Those columns don't always hold up," Sam countered indignantly.

"You've… Been in a cave-in? When? What happened?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it. Let's go… We'll have to block the entrance from within the mine as well." He pulled out the only pokéball he had with him. It contained a veteran staraptor that he was borrowing. He had left Michael and Cat with Matt, which all three protested. His silver rapidash, who'd finally been named Zora after much debate between him and the family of skilled ranchers who had taken him under their wing, had been left with that same family for her safe-keeping and also because Naomi, the youngest daughter, was incredibly infatuated with the silver rapidash and Sam told her that Zora could stay there is she promised to take good care of her, which Naomi happily said many yes's to.

Zora seemed perfectly content with the plan once Michael explained it more to her. If not for Michael, she would have razed the whole town down to get to Sam when he left. Sam had grown very fond of the still very destructive rapidash. Sure, she was hot-tempered, but she had a sweet side shown through how kind and gentle she was with Naomi, who wasn't quite six at the time. He'd dropped her off there before the last meeting with the Prefects, knowing that it was the best spot to leave her since she could not be left in Matt's apartment.

Roark pulled out his aerodactyl and they returned quickly to Oreburgh City.

Once on the ground, Sam put the staraptor back its pokeball. It was a stuffy old bird and though both held a great deal of respect for each other, they didn't get along that great most of the time.

Roark elbowed him and he turned with a confused look. "Hey, you go on ahead. I'll take care of the other entrance. I'll meld it to the spot and fill the crate with the heaviest stuff we got in the mine."

Sam seemed rather shocked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Hey, it's no big deal. And I hear Gardenia is having far more trouble than I am. I've got this, man. You just head on out."

Sam shrugged. "Alright. If that's what you want, I sure won't argue. I'll see you around." Roark stuck out his hand and Sam shook it heartily.

"Stay out of trouble," Roark told him, a boyish grin on his face.

Sam laughed. "Trouble comes to find me, I swear. I am an innocent man."

Roark shook his head, chuckling. "See ya around." He left for the mines to take care of the door, leaving Sam to his devices. Though, it was not meant to be.

"Sam! Ugh! What _is _this place?" Matt yelled from the Pokemon Center, holding Cat and Michael, who shot like an arrow to Sam.

_Oh for crying out loud! Really? _Sam answered him flatly. "Welcome Oreburgh City."

"Oreburgh? Ugh. Perfect example of a city of rocks and dirt living up to its name."

Sam sighed. "Matt… What are you doing here? I thought I was supposed to meet you in Jubilife."

"Well, that's what I said but Cat was freaking out and about broke my computer and Michael was pouting with quite the face so I figured I'd just return them to you as fast as possible and please don't ever leave them with me again," Matt explained as he gladly handed Cat over to him. Sam took her and she latched on to him in a hug.

Sam gave Cat a stern look. "You were misbehaving?"

Cat put her ears back unhappily. _"Maester disnae coom bahk fahst enuff…. Cat disnae liek dis 'Maht'"_

"I didn't ask if you liked him. I told you stay with him for a while and to not cause any trouble."

Cat seemed to shrink, realizing that she was in trouble. Matt waited for Sam to sort the problem out. Michael had his ears back as well and gave Sam a very innocent 'I didn't do it' look. He sighed.

"_Iz veary sawry…"_

"… Alright… I know you guys don't like it when I'm gone-" Michael immediately went to his shoulders and cuddled into his face and Cat let out a happy squeak and hugged him as tightly as she could. "But- next time, you will not cause any trouble. I don't care if you pout, but you will not be breaking anything."

Both pokémon nodded, neither wanting to be in trouble anymore.

"Everything okay now?" Matt asked.

"Yeah… Well, hopefully. I'm sorry. You're going to have to take them again when I get to Eterna City, but I think that they'll be good this time." His tone carried that last warning and the message was effectively delivered. Cat squeaked meekly and Michael put his ears back guiltily.

"Alright, well… Anyway, on to Jubilife City!" Matt declared clutching Sam's arm.

Sam was having none of that and shoved him off, gently, but nonetheless. "No. You are not cuddling. And what exactly are we going to do in Jubilife?"

"My cousin… Well, second cousin started his little pokémon off to do and it's been a while since I've seen him so I thought we'd go track him down and wish him happy trails and move on to a whole town that's more like a field of flowers together!"**  
**

"This all sounds like something _you_ want to do," Sam commented, obviously not looking forward to it.

"Of course it is. You know I don't care what you want to do. But hey, this'll be fun! I hear that it's not just my cousin either. There's a boy named Lucas and girl named Dawn, she's the professor's assistant. I'm hoping that she's like Lyra… I miss Lyra. She was a sweetheart."

"That would certainly complete the puzzle of this being like old times," Sam added, smiling at the thought of Lyra.

"See? This'll be fun."

"Fine. … But just so we're clear:" Sam clarified, dead serious, "I am not going to frolic through a field of flowers with you."

* * *

**AN: **Ahh, chapter three... ... This one was fun to write. And Roark- I didn't like him very much to start with, but he's just so much fun to tease... So now I like him more. Hardy har har.

Anyhoo, as far as OC's go, I'm a wee bit behind on drawing them. In the next chapter, Aaron will come in so... I need to draw Shannon, Nolyn, and Aaron by next friday. And I'm also hoping to eventually update the crap out of my deviant art account (literally).

BIG thank you to my beta and friend, DarkAngelTorchic. Her stories are awesome.

I have also recently realized that there's a surprising number of you who read my author's note... I'm such a dork when I write these because I assume that most of the time no one reads it... Now I don't know whether to start writing these a little more seriously or to keep being silly because that might be the only reason you read my crazy rambling.

Anyway, **Thanks for reading!** ... **And reviewing if you did.**


	4. Chapter 4

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Barry ran into Jubilife leaving Lucas to eat his dust, quite literally. Lucas had always been the slow and steady type. One to take things as they came, never worry… Always calm. Barry was the polar opposite. Always in a hurry, impatient for the sun to rise and set. Nothing was ever fast enough for him.

His green scarf whipped around in the wind and his blonde hair was tussled and windblown, sticking right up in some places. He was so focused on getting to the Pokémon Center so he could heal his pokémon and get to the next route that he hardly saw anybody in front of him.

"Move! Move! Rising star coming through!" He shouted as he ran. Most people dashed to get out of his way quickly. In a blur, he saw a green shirt coming up in front of him. Barry flailed his arms. "Move! Outta the way or it's a million dollar fine!"

The guy in the green shirt shrieked as Barry almost barreled into him. Instead, he saw a flash of black and then something slammed right into this stomach. He practically clothe-lined himself. He hung over what he realized was someone's arm. He saw the black combat boots and the black cargo pants. A gray canvas bag was slung over his shoulder with an abra perched on it. Barry looked up to see his face.

"… That's a hundred dollar fine," Barry declared. The man raised his eyebrows and dropped him.

"You alright, Matt?"

The other man smoothed out the wrinkles in the green shirt he was wearing. "Hooo… Yeah. I'm good. I'm alright… Yeah."

Barry looked up at him. "Matt?"

Matt gave him a stern look. "Barry! How many times does your mother have to tell you not to run into people? You could have killed me!"

Barry huffed. "I don't have time for walking! I gotta beat the first gym as soon as possible!"

"Ugh. You are SO like your father."

The other guy in mostly black, who Barry didn't know, seemed amused. "Who is his father?"

Matt looked at him. "Duh. Palmer."

"Palmer? … But. That would mean that Palmer is your cousin…"

Matt stared at him. "Yeah. And?"

"You two are _related_?"

"Why is everyone always so surprised by that?"

Barry interrupted. "Who are you anyway?" he asked the other guy.

"I… Am very confused and shocked. But the name's Sam. I'd say nice to meet you, but I'd be lying," Sam returned. The luxray at his heel snorted, apparently in agreement.

"Whatever! Gotta run!" Barry yelled, even though they were right there, and ran the rest of the way, almost knocking down Professor Rowan and his assistant, Dawn.

Matt sighed. "He's such a…"

"Pushy, loud, obnoxious little shit?" Sam finished for him.

"Well, yeah."

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Professor Rowan himself interrupted to walk past. Both Matt and Sam were startled by his sudden appearance and quickly stepped aside. Dawn trailed on the Professor's heels carrying a bunch of papers and books. She seemed to be struggling and Sam was about to offer to help her when she tripped over her boots, which were a little too big. The papers scattered. The Professor turned and looked down at her sternly.

"I- I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to," Dawn stammered as she scrambled to pick up the papers and books but she kept dropping them. Sam knelt down beside her and took the papers from her hands and picked up the rest. All the while, Rowan watched, cold and impassive.

Sam handed the papers over carefully. Dawn accepted them with a blush and mumbled a 'thank you'. As she stood, the professor took the books and papers out of her hands.

"Miss Dawn, please be more careful. I will take this to the Trainer School." He turned and walked away. Barry flew out of the Pokémon Center and raced to the Trainer School right behind the Professor.

Dawn sighed. "Oooh… I always mess these things up. I'm so clumsy." She brushed the dirt of her pink coat that had plenty of evidence of other falls. Sam and Matt exchanged glances. "Oh! And I am SO sorry for disturbing you guys. I didn't mean to… And then you even helped me. Not that I don't appreciate it because I do, but you guys… It was so sweet of you. I'm so sorry to have been a bother! My name is Dawn, and I'm the Professor's assistant but you probably already knew that… I'm sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?"

Sam smiled at her. "It's fine. It was nice to meet you…"

Matt snorted dismissively. "No problem at all."

"Oh, thank you. You're so nice! I should go… I need to catch more pokémon for the Professor." She left them with a cheerful wave and headed towards the entrance to the city.

Sam and Matt exchanged glances.

"She is SO like Lyra."

"She is… Only Lyra was a little… Ditzier?"

Matt shrugged. "I don't know. Dawn's definitely clumsier."

"Eeh… Not really. It would help if she had a pair of boots that fit."

"Well, let's get on to Floaroma Town!"

* * *

The water of the creek gurgled and followed the path it had carved into the face of the earth at a steady, fast pace, right under the bridge on Route 105. Standing on the moist timbers of the bridge were two women and a young boy. One of the women was much older, her black dress swirling in the wind and her wide brim hat shielding her face from the sun. The boy was at her side, holding her hand, his blue eyes reflecting the water below. The other woman was tall and tanned, her white hair reaching her waist from it's ponytail.

"I take it you've already had some for of success?" the Madame asked.

"Yes… While in Jubilife City, I found a platoon of Galactic grunts walking in."

"You got one to talk more about Team Galactic and whatever goal they have in mind?" she growled in a tone that made it clear there would be trouble if nothing had been gained.

The other woman's pink eyes sparkled. "No… Better. I found myself a young, rather attractive man who took them down with the help of a seemingly random group of people… And then he wouldn't tell me why."

The Madame's dangerous tone left her and her red lips pulled into a smile. "Ah… A thief?"

"I'm almost certain. He was a very interesting man… If nothing else, he's damn good at assassination and he can probably be bought pretty cheaply. He accepted my number easily enough."

"Hmm… This may be profitable for us… Did you get his name?"

"He said his name was Sam," she answered with a smirk.

The Madame's red eyes widened. "Sam? …" _So he survived in Hoenn after all... _

"Yeah… Does it mean something to us?" She asked. Obviously the name meant nothing to her.

"So he's here as well… This works to our advantage as long we can keep out of his way." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Here's what I want you to do… Keep him entertained while I handle this meeting with the commander of Galactic. We don't want him putting his nose where it doesn't belong right now, but he'll be on Galactic's tail for sure. Sooner or later, he'll push them to our side. This leader, whoever he is, will need our help eventually. And Sam, who I know is with the Guild, will also know more about Team Galactic's whereabouts and what they're doing than we will."

"So… Just tag along and try to see what he does?"

"For now… Ask him about Team Galactic. Try for that information. He'll trust you more if you don't go right for the kill. Once I have this Galactic leader wrapped around my finger, as it should be, you can start asking about The Guild and who the leader is."

"Got it… I doubt he'll be too much of a challenge on Team Galactic. I'll see if I can't catch him again. He's got to be around somewhere… Ah, and that must be your man now."

The Madame turned to face him and the other woman left. The man walking down the dirt path was taller with short red hair spiked up, wearing a black suit. There was hardly a trace of the gaudy space theme of the other Galactic soldiers she'd seen. The belt he wore, his black boots (instead of white), black and white color scheme, and the characteristic black shirt he wore underneath the suit along with the yellow G sewn onto the left shoulder gave him away as a Galactic underling.

Crimson eyes met gold as the two sized each other up.

"You aren't quite what I was expecting," he told her, his golden eyes were cold.

Her crimson eyes narrowed and she growled back at him, "Likewise. Are you the commander of Team Galactic?"

"… Yes," he answered curtly. He soon found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol aimed at his face. His cold expression flickered for a moment, but he held it.

"Boy, I have been around a lot longer than you and I know when I am being lied to. Do not play games with me and I will not play games with you. This is a business discussion, but I can and will turn it into a bloodbath. Make up your mind now how this is going work."

He reached his hand up and gently moved the barrel away from his face, realizing that she was simply allowing the gesture not that he had any control. "Forgive me… I was simply following orders. I am Aaron Kroatien… Or Erys, if you will."

She put up the pistol; the boy beside her seemed disappointed. "Business it is… Your boss is waiting at Fuego Ironworks, as I asked?"

"Yes…"

"Then let's not linger here." She brushed past him, placing her pistol back into her black leather purse which contained Arceus knows what else. He followed behind her and they walked to the stream that led to the industrial building known as Fuego Ironworks. Waiting there was a small boat. Being a gentleman, he helped the woman who had not offered a name to him on as well as the child. She sat in the middle prim and proper, back straight, shoulders back, and her chin set at a proud angle. The boy sat with the same proper pose, surprisingly calm and collected for such a young age.

Aaron sat across from her, neither making any attempt at idle chatter. The Galactic grunts powered up the motor and maneuvered the boat upstream. Both grunts helped their passengers off the boat and to the lush grass once they reached their destination. The other commanders were waiting with Mr. Fuego. At the sight of the woman in black, he rushed forward, arms open for an embrace.

"If it isn't the beautiful Madame! I haven't seen your lovely face in ages!"

She smiled at him. "Fuego… Dear, it has been a long time. How are you, love?" She hugged him back daintily and they exchanged kisses on the cheek.

"Oh, wonderful! Wonderful… Those tiles that you had your boys help install are really splendid!"

"I'm so glad you appreciate them… Is business good?"

Mr. Fuego rubbed his hands together. "Yes, yes. Plenty of iron here. I've had good business with companies here and gotten a lot of materials from Team Galactic lately… It's been quite fine. And you? I heard Team Rocket was taken down… How are things?"

She smirked. "Wonderful… Every day we grow stronger… Our recruits are still young, but they'll learn quickly… Isn't that right, Vidar?"

The boy smiled and nodded. Mr. Fuego tousled his blonde hair. "What a cute boy…"

"Not to interrupt your reunion, but can we move to the meeting, Mr. Fuego, ma'am?" Aaron interrupted. Jupiter and Saturn exchanged uncomfortable glances and Mars seemed especially unnerved. Charon, however, eyed the woman curiously._  
_

She turned to Aaron, her crimson eyes seemed to glow in the shadow her veil had created. "Yes, shall we." Mr. Fuego offered her his arm, which she accepted. They walked together to the factory where Mr. Fuego had set up a table for them to sit at and even had some food prepared for them. The commanders took their seats, Saturn on Cyrus's left, Aaron sitting at his right as the Captain Commander, second highest position. Cyrus was sitting coolly. He watched, impassive and emotionless, as the older woman walked in. He looked to Aaron, who shrugged helplessly.

Mr. Fuego pulled out her chair for her and kissed her on the cheek again before leaving. Charon seemed slightly irritated by the amount of friendliness between them. The boy she'd brought inside with her crawled into her lap and sat silently. His young face seemed… Hollow.

"You are… The woman who wanted to see me?" Cyrus began.

She nodded. "I am… You may address me as Madame."

"That's not a name."

She smirked. "No… It's not. My name has long slipped into the abysmal list of people this world has long forgotten. Let's not worry about it too much."

"Humph… … I am Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic. What is it that you want?"

"Dearie me, aren't you direct. Then I shall return the favor. I know you're after the Guild. I can help."

Cyrus sat back in his chair, he seemed a little impressed. "How do you know of the Guild?"

"Love, I've been the Guild's worst enemy since I was born, they just don't quite know it yet... That's why I'm here. You've done a fair job taking them on so far…"

"But?"

"But you're stupid."

Jupiter gaped. "I'm sorry… What?" Even Cyrus couldn't hold back the surprise on his face.

Mars looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out. She looked at Madame's face and just seemed to shrink. Aaron stared at her with narrow eyes while Charon smirked slightly and cleaned his glasses.

Cyrus scowled. "Excuse me?"

She met his gaze, level and calm. "You hear just fine. There's no need to repeat myself. You have no idea what you're up against."

"I know what I'm doing, and it's been working. The Guild retreated. I won," Cyrus defended.

"No… You caught them off guard and they retreated to lick their wounds and regroup. You haven't won. The Guild is an ancient regime that can't be beaten that easily. You are messing with a power you don't understand. They'll come back for you as soon as they're ready, and when they do, Team Galactic will be reduced to nothing."

"And what would you do in my place?"

"If I were you and confronted with a woman wise beyond my own years with superior knowledge of our shared enemy, I'd listen," she responded.

"But I won't. I don't know you and you could be lying. Why should I trust you?" Cyrus argued impassively.

She leaned forward. "What reason do I have to betray you? We're on the same side. This isn't about trust… No. You're refusing me out of pride."

Cyrus stood. "Leave. I have no need of you."

Her crimson eyes flashed. She seemed angry for a moment, but then her face was calm and she smiled. "Of course. Let me know should you change your mind…"

Mr. Fuego came back to her side and escorted her out kindly, as if they'd been together for years.

Aaron watched her leave thoughtfully. _She's suspicious, but… _"Cyrus, if she's right and telling the truth- we could use her."

Saturn grimaced. "I don't think that's a good idea. She doesn't seem like the 'used' type. She was looking more to use us."

"And what difference does it make if it's profitable for us? If she's right, we're all going to die anyway… Even if we aren't, she's probably right in saying that we haven't fully won just yet," Aaron stated in a business-like tone.

"I agree. You kids think to highly of yourself in your arrogance," Charon added.

"You're one to talk!" Jupiter snarled at him. Saturn laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's not fight amongst each other. It doesn't help," Saturn told her gently. She relaxed and sat back down in her chair. Mars was still sitting quietly, looking off into the distance.

Cyrus exchanged a glance with Aaron. "At the moment, we have nothing to fear. Even if they do come back, we beat them once and we can do it again."

"And what if it isn't so simple," Aaron argued.

Cyrus settled back in his chair. "It will be."

* * *

Matt had gotten Sam as far as staring at the wooden sign into Floaroma Town before he finally dug his heels in.

"Oh, come on! You know you want to!" Matt whined as he pulled on his arm. Cat seemed very curious about all the flowers. It was new to her and she seemed enchanted by the smell. For Sam and Michael, it was too much. Michael was flat out growling.

"Nah… I really think that I don't," Sam responded. He'd been here once and had found out that such a ridiculously large amount of pollen gave him a headache and made him sneeze after awhile. At the time, Cat, Michael, and Zora were still going through their vaccinations and acclimating to the region at Steven's villa where the weather was closest to home so they hadn't seen it.

"You big baby… Cat wants to go! Don't you?"

Cat nudged him; she clearly actually did want to go play in the multitude of flowers.

Sam and Michael exchanged glances and sighed heavily. "Fine… But… Only because Cat wants to go." Cat squeaked happily and jumped down from his shoulders and ran into the town and Matt followed her. Sam walked under the gate and went to the path that ran horizontally through the town. It was the best spot in the whole town if you wanted to be away from the flowers. He sat down in the grass and was perfectly content to just watch Cat and Matt run around like children. Michael lay down beside him as a luxray. It was his favorite Sinnoh pokémon guise.

Sam saw the incredibly unhappy look on his face and chuckled. "I'm sorry, Michael. This isn't my kind of place either."

Michael grunted. Sam pet him on the head until he felt Michael start twitching. He took his hand away and stared at him with confusion.

"What's wrong…?"

Michael sneezed suddenly and a small burst of static came off him. He growled unhappily and then sneezed twice more.

"Well… It seems you're allergic to pollen…" Sam inferred, finding it rather funny for what ever reason and he laughed. Michael glared at him. "I'm so sorry. Do you want to go in your pokéball?"

Michael growled and shook his head and then sneezed again. He put a paw over his nose, trying to stave off the infecting pollen that the wind was stirring up. It wasn't long before his golden eyes started welling up with tears from the invisible irritation. Sam kept trying to pet him to comfort him, but every time he sneezed, he'd loose a burst of static.

After awhile of Cat simply trying to smell all of the flowers, she seemed to get a little high off the all the scents. Matt made the mistake of tagging her so they could play. Cat knew how to play tag. Sort of. Sam hadn't quite gotten it through to her that you just had to touch the other person, not bite, tackle, punch, kick, and/or cause physical damage.

Matt figured out quickly that she was trying to bite him back and began panicking, running a completely and utterly wacked path trying avoid Cat's searching teeth, making a high-pitched squealing noise as he did so. Sam watched, too amused to intervene. _No wonder Koga kept that Safari job for so long…_ Suddenly, the incredibly entertaining visage was blocked by someone's hands. _What the?_

"Guess who?"

Sam paused. _I know that voice… That chick from Jubilife… What was her name again? _"Shannon?"

She took her hands away and wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Hey, you."

"Hey… What brings you out here?" Sam asked her with a small smirk.

She smiled. "Well, I heard someone's panicked squeaking and I was very curious. I honestly didn't think it would be a man making that kind of noise," she answered with a pointed stare at Matt.

Sam shrugged. "If you knew him you wouldn't be so surprised."

"Mmm… Maybe you should call off your abra."

"Why? That would ruin all the fun. And trust me, you don't want either of those two to come back," Sam told her.

She smirked and chuckled. "Come on… Help the poor guy. His shrieking is starting to annoy me."

Sam made a face and sighed. "Cat!"

She just about had a hold of Matt's pant leg when he called her. She stopped immediately and looked at him. "C'mere." She squeaked and ran over to him, causing Michael to sneeze miserably. Cat climbed into his lap happily and hissed and growled at Shannon, who immediately pulled away from Sam.

"What…?"

"She doesn't like it when strangers touch me," Sam answered, petting her with an affectionate smile. "That's why I told you that you didn't want me to call her back."

Shannon looked at the little abra that was hugging him so sweetly. Cautiously, she reached her hand out to touch him. Cat turned around and growled at her viciously and Shannon withdrew her hand.

Matt, after taking a moment to catch his breath, walked over to them and plopped down, causing Michael to sneeze even more violently. Michael groaned miserably and tried to dig a hole in the dirt to hide his nose.

"Ugh… Geez, I think your little Cat just got high off pollen," Matt stated, breathing heavily.

Sam laughed. "She is not! She just hasn't figured out that tag is meant to be nice game."

Matt shook his head with disbelief. "What haven't you taught her?"

Sam shrugged as she climbed over his shoulder and tried to take his hat off. "Well, she can't play any type of board game… Though I have tried."

"Of course you have," Matt responded with a weary sigh.

Shannon looked at the both in turn, very much confused. "You taught your abra to play tag?"

Matt jumped and looked at her, apparently just realizing that she was there. "Who are- Wait… I know you," he interrupted loudly, cutting Sam off before he barely had a chance to begin a response. "You're that chick from Jubilife…"

Shannon stared at him with wide eyes before giving him a suspicious look. "I… How do you know that? I don't remember seeing you…"

Matt ignored her and turned to Sam. "Really? Really! You had to bring your new 'friend' along? What am I here for? Do you really have to do this while I'm here? I refuse to accept this… Or her. She's no good. I don't like her."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Matt, I didn't call her here. She came on her own."

Matt turned back to her sternly. "Alright… What do you want?"

"Um… I'm sorry. Just who are you?" she retorted indignantly. Sam ignored them and continued to pet Cat.

"I am Matt… And Sam's best friend. I don't know who you are, but I've already decided that you can't have him."

"My name is Shannon and I'll do what I want… I don't need your approval!"

"I was here first- go find somebody else, honey. It shouldn't be too hard for somebody like you!"

"You're right, it's not," she returned with just as much attitude as Matt was giving her.

"Oh, girlfriend, you need better standards," Matt told her, sagely.

"I think we both agree that there's nothing wrong with him," she answered, jerking her thumb in Sam's direction.

Matt looked at him and winked, getting a scowl back. "Oh, there's nothing wrong with him… Aside from the fact that he's not the most loyal choice… And is always busy doing something illegal…"

"Fine with me," Shannon answered, reaching out to try and touch him, drawing another growl from Cat.

"Are you guys done talking about me while I'm right here?" Sam asked sarcastically.

Matt smiled at him. "Of course, darling. We'll just talk about you later when you're not around."

"Gee, thanks. I appreciate that," Sam responded, raising an eyebrow. Matt shrugged innocently.

Shannon fidgeted for a moment before interrupting the silence. "So… What brings you two here?"

Matt waved off the question carelessly. "Oh, travel. On our way to Eterna City and whatnot. I just wanted to come see the flowers here… Much to Michael's dismay, apparently." Michael growled at him accusingly as he sneezed repeatedly.

"What brings you here?" Sam asked her in return.

"I was just in the area… Saw you and thought I'd come talk to you since you didn't call," she responded coolly with a mild accusing glare at Sam.

"I'm a busy man," he answered.

"Hmm… Speaking of which, so what were you doing in Jubilife? Something with Team Galactic, right? What was that all about?"

Matt and Sam exchanged glances. _She wasn't there for Team Galactic… Well… It's not impossible for her to have seen something beforehand, I suppose. Whether she's interested in Team Galactic as a spy to see what we know or genuinely wanting to help, she doesn't really need to know anything. If she wants to help, she must might end up screwing this whole thing up... _"Ah… Work. Work is boring so let's not discuss that."

"What quarrel do you have with them? Did they do something?" she asked nonchalantly.

Matt snorted. "They run around in those ridiculous uniforms… They are an eyesore to fashion and need to be taught a proper lesson in what not to wear or just run off."

Shannon laughed. "That's not a real answer… C'mon. What aren't you telling me?"

Sam smiled at her. "That's none of your business." He watched her face closely and saw the mild flicker of irritation. _What is she up to? Well, whatever. Might as well have my fun until she proves to be a threat._

Shannon shrugged, accepting that he wasn't going to say anything else on the subject. Further banter and conversation was interrupted when Sam's phone started ringing. He pulled it out, checking the caller id while making sure that it was turned so Shannon couldn't see. _Riley… Huh. Wonder what he wants. _

"Hey, what's up, buddy?"

"Sam, I need you to do something for me…"

"I hear you. Just give me a second," Sam put a hand over the speaker. "Important call. Stay here." He got up and walked out behind the flower shop, leaving Shannon and Matt behind.

"Uh… Sam?"

"Still here. Just had to lose some curious ears, that's all. What's eating you, Riles?"

Riley sighed in irritation, which he did occasionally when Sam called him Riles. "I… Need you to go into the Eterna Forest tomorrow and find someone for me…"

"That doesn't sound like anything big. I can handle that… Who and where can I find them?"

"Her name is Cheryl," Riley started. Sam noted the relief in his voice that he'd agreed to help. "I don't know where you'd find her. She wants to go there and find some flower but she has this habit of getting very… Lost. I've heard reports that Team Galactic members are lurking around the forest and I just want to make sure that she's okay…"

"So… My job is to rescue the distressed damsel and take her…?"

"Wherever she asks to go is fine, as long as she's out of Team Galactic's path."

Sam grinned deviously. "Alright… I'll try to find Miss Cheryl tomorrow morning. For the record, I took care of Oreburgh today. I'll just head back to Jubilife for the night and go ahead, find Cheryl tomorrow morning, and take Eterna City after that and keep moving along."

"Okay, great! Thanks… This means a lot to me."

"Sure, no problem. See you later, Riles." Sam hung up and tapped his phone against his chin thoughtfully. _Ol' Riles is worried about a girl getting lost in the forest? This Cheryl is either very special or just very special to him… Either way, this is sure to be very interesting._

* * *

**AN: **Sam! You behave yourself! I swear, he never listens to me. UGH.

Well... At least one of you noticed that last week... I published chapter 2 again instead of 3... ... Heh heh... Derp! My bad. That's what... Strike 2 now? I'm sorry... I'll be more careful.

So me and my beta were talking and... We both keep calling Riley 'Riles' now... And we both do it subconsciously. It's kinda bad... And terribly funny at the same time. Anybody else having that problem, where you just constantly want to call him 'Riles' instead? I have to seriously think about it, 'his name is actually Riley... Riley, Riley, Riley.'

...

... Oh! And this chapter features the absolutely wonderful OC **Aaron** **Kroatien** from **RandomGuy520**! Totally awesome and I was going to kill him but then I changed my mind... And now I'm debating again... It'll be hard to say what becomes of sir Aaron. But in the meantime, enjoy our new buddy. I hope he's perfect and thank you for submitting him, RandomGuy520!

Big ol' thank you to my wonderful beta and friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**! You should read her two fics. Seriously.

Oh, what other random nonsense can I add... ... ... ... Eeh, none. End randomness. Maybe... ... Wait!

_Still _working on those OC's... I'm sorry. I'll get right on those. I want them to look good and that makes me crazy OCD about things being _perfect_. So... Soon. Before Sinnoh is over for sure... If that's any comfort whatsoever.

Okay- _now_ I'm done.

**Thank you for reading! And you beautiful people who review! I love you guys. Not really, I don't even know you. But you guys are still awesome.**


	5. Chapter 5

No copyright infringement intended.

*There are three Disney/Pixar references in this chapter: Can you catch 'em all? (Hardy har har: pun intended)

* * *

The morning mist seeped through the trees turned a golden color by the sunlight that flitted through the green canopy above. The soft chatter of the buneary, rustling of the lush green leaves, sound of berries plopping to the loamy soil… The last notes of the song of a lone kricketune hanging in the moist air of a place where time is said to stand still: Eterna Forest. The place had always felt alive, humming to the beat of its own tune. Cheryl loved it there and it seemed that the forest never paid her any mind. In fact, sometimes is seemed to want to keep her there ...Or maybe she was just terrible with directions. She knelt down in the grass not far from the entrance, her torn green dress blending with the forest's floor. Her long green hair slid off her shoulder trailed in the dirt, picking up leaves and twigs, as she crawled forward, trying to find what she'd lost.

"Ooh… It has to be around here somewhere." She cast about, moving piles of leaves and branches in hopes of finding it. Her dress was a little damp from the dew. She'd slept outside last night in the flowers of the Floaroma Meadow. She had been in here last night as well and it's where she'd dropped her ring. Her _favorite_ ring. It was a priceless gift. She didn't know where she'd lost it, so she figured she'd just start at the entrance.

"Maybe… Over there?" She turned around quickly, still on her hands and knees and bonked her head into something. She opened her eyes wide with surprise. _Boots…? _She sat back on her heels and looked up slowly at the man standing before her with an abra draped over his shoulders and a luxray at his side.

"Did you… Lose something?" he asked, giving her strange look.

Cheryl nodded. "Yes… I lost my ring!" She pointed at her ring finger, which was where the ring would be normally be.

He smiled at her, a warm smile that made her happy for whatever reason. "I'll help you find it then. My name's Sam." He offered her his hand, which she took and he pulled her up easily.

"My name is Cheryl. I hope I'm not bothering you…"

"Cheryl?" Sam repeated, very surprised.

"Yes… Did I… Have we met before? Oh dear… I'm so terribly sorry! I don't remember you! Have I bothered you before?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No, no… I was sent out here to find you."

"To find… Me? Oh, gosh… Did something happen?"

"Hardly. No, Riley just wanted me to make sure you got out of here safely. Been some trouble with Team Galactic around these parts, which is what I'm here for. I'll take you out to the Eterna City entrance… And we'll find your ring."

Cheryl blinked. "Riley? He asked you to come… and protect me? I… I don't know what to say."

"It's nothing really," he told her with another warm smile as he pulled a leaf out of her hair. "Let's find that ring of yours."

"Right… It's um… About this big. It's carved out of wood and has pretty green gems in it," she explained to him.

"So, we're looking for wood in a whole forest of it? … Like needle in haystack. Did you lose it here?"

"I haven't the faintest idea where I lost it… I hope it's here somewhere. I don't know what I'll do without it…" She trailed off, looking off in the distance worriedly as she played with her braid. It was obvious that she was very stressed by losing her ring.

Sam put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close for a hug. "Don't you worry about it. We'll find that ring. I won't leave until we do." _Easier said than done, Sam. Let's not forget that. How the Hell do you find one little piece of wood in a giant ass forest?_

Cheryl hugged him back quickly before stepping back, apparently energized by the hug. "Alright! We can do this!"

_Right…_

"Umm… Where should we start?"

Sam exchanged glances with Michael. "You up for some work?"

"_What am I looking for?"_

"It's a small wooden ring. You'll be able to detect her scent on it." Cheryl looked at him, very confused. Michael approached her and sniffed her dress. He sneezed at the pollen, but must have gotten a good idea of the scent. He transformed into a mightyena and started sniffing the earth, already picking up her scent and following it.

"Your pokémon! It just became something else!" Cheryl shrieked.

Sam flinched, startled by her sudden reaction. "I… What? He just transformed. He does that all the time he's a… A ditto."

"Ooh… I've never seen one before! That's incredible!"

Sam just smiled. _That's right… It _is _incredible… _He'd had to bite down calling him a mew. It just seemed like a good idea to keep the fact that he had a mew on the down low. Poachers, hunters, and the like had a tendency to go after rare pokémon like that. Best way to keep a secret is to keep it to yourself, he figured- a hard lesson, but a valuable one. Cat pulled on his collar.

"_Iz kin goa doon an plae wit Mikal?"_

"Of course… Don't run off too far though," he told her as he set her on the ground. She scampered off excitedly in to the foliage. Cheryl jumped back as Cat raced by. Sam grabbed her arm gently and guided her forward with him.

"Let's go then… We'll have to keep up with them, unfortunately."

"Right! Of course… Let's go on then…"

They followed leisurely through the forest. Sam was entirely at ease. The forest was peaceful and somewhat warm. The air was fresh… Pure. Just plain clean. The wild pokémon there were fairly tame, in a matter of speaking. The buneary scurried away, the silcoon and cascoon weren't going anywhere, and the bugs just watched harmlessly as they passed, which probably freaked Cheryl out more than if they attacked. A few buneary decided that they rather liked Sam and pranced around in front of him, pulling all manner of stunts. Cat eventually came back and played with them.

The conversation, however, was minimal. Cheryl seemed absorbed in her own thoughts and the atmosphere was a little awkward. After they'd walked through what seemed like an endless patch of tall grass, Sam finally broke the silence.

"Sorry it had to be me that came out to get you," he offered, apologetically.

Cheryl almost jumped out of her skin. "Huwat! W-why? ... I don't understand…"

"Oh, nothing… I'm just getting the feeling that you wish that somebody else was here to enjoy a romantic stroll through the woods with you," Sam explained dramatically with a wink.

She played with her braid furiously with nervous energy. "Well… I just… I mean. You're very handsome and you're so very nice to help me. I didn't mean to be rude…"

"But… There's somebody else," Sam concluded with a sagely nod, like he knew it all. Cheryl looked at the ground and scuffed her dirty boots into the grass. Sam smiled deviously. "It's Riley, isn't it?"

A deep blush immediately spread across her face. "Oh no… Was it that easy to tell? Ooh, I'm so embarrassed!"

Sam smirked, very much self-satisfied. "It kinda was. So you and Riley… How sweet… And…" His eyes widened and he gasped as it dawned on him. "And Riley gave you that ring! The one that we're looking for!"

Cheryl was absolutely beet-red at this point. "Yes!" She squeaked. "I had one before but it was very old and it was giving me splinters so he gave me a new one… And he said to take care of it and I've gone and lost it!"

"I can't have this! We absolutely must get it back! Michael, how's progress on the hunt?" Sam called out loudly.

After a few moments, they heard Michael bark. Sam followed his barking. They rounded the jutting cliff and found Michael in the nearby tall grass, nosing through it excitedly.

"Did you find it?" Sam asked as he knelt beside him. Michael stopped his nosing and then pulled his nose out of the dirt. He dropped a small piece of wood into his hands, covered in slobber now, of course. Sam cleaned it off on his pants and held it in the light, where he could see it better. It was beautifully carved with a broad, twisting knots and floral patterns, the centerpiece was a broad square with four leaves made with gems. Sam inspected it closer.

"Those… Are real emeralds! Riles… You dog."

"What?"

Sam turned back to her. "Alright… Now that we've found your ring, let's try to never lose it again… And I've got just the thing…" He went through his pockets, trying to figure out where he'd put the item in question. Cheryl just watched, very confused. He finally pulled out a gold necklace chain from his pockets. He looped the ring into it fastened the necklace around her neck before she could argue.

"There we go… I think that will work much better for you. If you it tuck in your shirt, you'll be even less likely to lose it."

Cheryl fingered the ring, clearly she was happy to have it back and it meant a lot to her from the expression on her face. She tucked the ring under her green jacket.

"Perfect. Now let's just… … What is that?" In mid-sentence, he caught sight of an old building straight in front of him. The old-style house was large with expensive looking features. The red doors stood out amongst the greenery of the forest.

_An abandoned mansion? That's a gold mine… _He ventured through the grass so he stood on the dirt path. Cheryl looked at the house with something like fear.

"That's the Old Chateau… You don't want to go in there. They say it's haunted by ghosts!"

"Ha! Ghosts... Please. Michael here can handle any ghost pokémon."

"Not ghost pokémon… Ghosts of people. The place is haunted and it's so creepy!"

Sam made a face and waved it off. "Hah! That's ridiculous. I've had plenty of run-ins with old creepy mansions and not once has anything tried to stop me from taking anything. I'm going in… You can either come with or stay here."

"I'll stay here," she declared, plopping in the dirt stubbornly, and crossing her arms.

"Suit yourself," he replied with a careless shrug. He hopped over the old, white picket fence with Cat and Michael on his heels. As he approached the house, even he felt a slight feeling of foreboding at the old house. It was the poster house for any creepy story to be sure. The old architecture, vines slowly inching up the decrepit walls of the house, threatening to swallow it in its twisting embrace, arched windows were stained and cracked, massive red doors had paint chipping off and scratches, and bronze handles that were stained and obviously very old.

The foreboding feeling further drove his curiosity and the need to open those doors to find out what was inside. Even if it wasn't gold, just the thrill was enough for him. Had he been a little more observant, he would have noticed the reflection of a beautifly land on Cheryl's head before gliding smoothly on its painted wings, drawing Cheryl to follow it back into the depths of the forest in the old windows.

Just as Sam was about to enter the old house, Cat was suddenly not so keen on this adventure. She pulled on his pants frantically, and whined. "Do you want to go in your pokéball or…?"

She nodded and reached for the ball, most upset. She disappeared inside it and Sam put the luxury ball back in its spot on his belt. Michael looked up at him, filled with the same excitement that was driving Sam. He opened the doors and stepped inside, greeted with immediately with a strange smell. The mansion smelled of dirt and general forest, to be sure, but there were two other underlying smells… One of some type of flowery perfume, maybe what the lady of the household used to wear, but there was an odd metallic smell and maybe yet another of something… Decaying.

Dust covered the entire home in a near pristine coat, broken only by the small feet of a few buneary. The tiles of the earthly floor were broken in spots, revealing the concrete foundation underneath. The walls were covered with wallpaper that had pronounced water damage and was peeling in spots. The staircases were in a state of disrepair with some of the rods of the railing broken and gone. Red carpet was laid in front of the stairs and before two other doors on the second floor balcony. A lone statue sat in the corner, providing a haven for cobwebs. The whole house just seemed… Still. Like there was no life in it. Even the plants that had grown rampant just seemed dead. A bronze chandelier hung from the ceiling still glowing, though for how much longer the chain would hold was a mystery.

Sam took it all in. It was obvious that amateurs had already raided the place for what it was worth, but amateurs never fail to make some silly mistake. Add to that they were probably in a hurry because this place was indeed very creepy and there was sure to be something valuable lying about. And the great thing about stealing from the dead was that there wasn't much they could do about it.

"What do you think, Michael? Upstairs first?"

Michael sniffed the strange air and his hackles raised. _"Be careful…_"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Careful? Nothing here is going to move. Everything in this house is either inanimate or dead. There isn't a mid-ground in that."

Michael put his ears back and seemed unsure. He gestured with a head nod at the upper floor. Sam stretched his arms casually and yawned. "Let's get this over with. We can't keep Riles waiting for his long lost love."

Michael snorted and trotted to the stairs on the left. Sam followed quickly. They took the first door. It wasn't much different from the rest of the house: dirty, broken, moldy, abandoned, and kinda gross.

Sam wrinkled his nose with distaste. "Empty… It was probably the first room that everyone went to… Moving on then." Across the balcony was another door like the one in front of him. _Might as well check that out first. _It wasn't as empty as the other one. In fact, it seemed mostly untouched.

_Weird… You'd think they'd have taken these two rooms first… Well, amateurs do tend to get over zealous, they probably skipped over it. Plus, amateurs never check the bookshelves._ He fingered through the spines of the books. If there was one thing that rich people were partial to, it would be putting rare and expensive items on their bookshelves. Clever rich people liked to hide things in the books as well. Often buying a cheap book and cutting out an alcove in the pages. In a collection of antique and rare titles with expensive or old binding, finding the odd one out was pretty easy. He pulled out a book that could be bought anywhere and everywhere, _"The Luxray King." _It was a classic tale of a shinx named Simba betrayed by his psycho uncle and all of it revolving around the setting of Pride Rock. A hundred copies were printed originally, but once the story claimed so much fame, they printed new, cheaper copies. It was such a popular story that any bookstore worth its salt had several newer-version copies. And this one was one of those cheap copies.

Unceremoniously, he split the pages of the book in half and opened it. Sure enough, a large, perfectly cut, emerald with an incredible deep green color was laying tucked in its coffin of paper. Sam pulled it out and held it up to the light. He could see the cracks through it that gave hope that it was a real thing, not forged. Really gems had flaws and this one did too. He put it in his pocket and threw the book into the corner with two other books he'd found. The emerald was the best find out of all of it. Sure, an old, expensive-looking compass (even though it wasn't pointing north), and a wad of cash was great, but if that was a real emerald, he'd have a hard time convincing himself to sell it.

Sam pulled it out to look at it again, drawing an impatient growl from Michael. _Damn, she's pretty… Ha! I bet Matt would be swooning over this. Probably beg me to let him have it because it's green and it 'matches his eyes.' _As it was, Matt had been called by Barry's mother, a sweet woman, who wanted as much of the family together to celebrate Barry's first badge, and she wanted to include Matt in on it. That and he had the 'skills' to help her put the party together. That party was this morning so they'd simply agreed to meet up in Eterna City around noon.

After browsing through the rest of the shelves and seeing nothing else out of the ordinary, he left the room. All that was left to explore was the last door, though, judging from the size of the house from the outside, what lay beyond the door was likely a hallway leading to yet more rooms to explore.

With Michael sniffing both the ground and the air in front of him, he walked through the doorway into the hall that he'd predicted. As he did so, that odd metallic scent was a little stronger. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of something yellow. He turned to look quickly, but found that there was nothing there. _Odd… I wonder what that was?_

Michael must have seen it too as he was looking the same direction and his eyes were very distrusting. He growled at whatever it was that they'd seen. Sam, though a little unnerved, decided to check the room furthest down the hall. The door had been broken off its hinges, a few splinters that remained showed that the door was white and had what might have been floral patterns on it. Sam walked inside the room, hoping to see something yellow that would explain what he'd seen earlier.**  
**

There was nothing in the room. Nothing but a broken window, a child's clock, and a red ribbon. Sam walked to the center of the room, terribly confused by the lack of just… _anything_. He picked up the red ribbon, holding the frayed ends in his hands delicately. He thought heard very soft crying sound behind him and Michael started growling dangerously. Sam turned around as quickly as possible. There was nobody there… But there was certainly something. The wall around the door was splattered with blood.

"Holy shit…" Michael was growling beside him, hackles raised, and a feral glint in his eyes. Sam tried to soothe him with a comforting pet and he calmed a little bit.

"Yeah... Let's go…" Both were eager to leave the room, though Michael didn't stop growling. Sam turned back to look at the room one last time impulsively and caught site of a girl standing where the ribbon had been wearing a bloodstained yellow dress.

She looked up, seeming to look right through him before disappearing in the shadows.

Michael was almost lying on the ground, he'd crouched so low. His ears were back, and it was obvious that he was very unhappy.

"I think it's time we moved along… Don't you?"

Michael growled meekly, a sign of approval. Sam walked back to the door that would lead back to the grand hall of the chateau. As he descended the stairs, he heard the soft sound of dishes clattering in the other door that led to what was probably the dining room. Once at the bottom, he turned to look and saw an old butler who just glided past the entrance of the door.

"Oh no… Nope. We're going. That emerald is more than enough for me." Michael growled happily in agreement and ran to the door, impatient to leave. Sam did not hesitate, he opened the door and left, closing it behind him securely.

"Well… Wasn't that fun?"

Michael growled at him. Sam chuckled dryly. "That'll teach me to rob from the dead because it's easy… Geez… … … Wait… Where is Cheryl?" He ran down the chateau's old, overgrown lawn and hopped the picket fence.

"Cheryl? Cheryl!" The girl was nowhere to be found. Sam pushed his hair back out of his face and let his hand slide down to his neck as he looked around, puzzled. _Where the hell did she go? _He looked to his left and saw the exit from the forest to the route on the other side. _Did she decide to wait outside?_

He left the forest and stood on the path outside only find that Cheryl wasn't there either. "What the hell? Where could she have possibly gone?" He looked around. Michael sniffed the breeze and seemed to catch her scent and he looked back into the forest. Sam turned around and saw her through the trees.

"Oh! There's the exit! I'm so relieved… We finally go here. I would've never been able to get through this by myself. Thank you so much, Lucas! This is my token of appreciation. Please accept it! I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere! Bye for now!"

Cheryl left the boy she'd named Lucas with a cheerful wave and hurried over to Sam. The boy waved back silently before going back to wild grasses of the forest to train.

As soon as she reached him, Sam nodded at Michael who teleported them to the Battle Frontier.

Cheryl looked around in wonderment at being magically teleported. "Wooow… I… Oh dear." Upon looking back at Sam she saw that he was definitely not amused. "You look upset."

"Where did you go?"

"There was a beautifly and it was so pretty… So I followed it and suddenly realized that I had absolutely not a clue where I was! And Lucas just so happened to come along and he helped me…"

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "No wonder Riles was worried about you. … Alright… Cheryl, I want you to stay right here. Play in the flowers or look at the shops or something… Can you do that for me?"

"Yes…"

"Thank you."

* * *

Riley was sitting up in his office, leaning back in his comfortable desk chair. Steven was there, more for company than anything else. Nothing was wrong at the moment. They were in the beginning phases of the operation to get rid of Team Galactic so there was still plenty of room for things to go wrong, but, for now, everything was fine._ So why am I so worried?_

Steven was tossing around a new stone that he had found. It was almost a perfect circle and a blood red color. "I just don't know Riley… This blood red color… Just gives me a bad feeling. Like bad karma… Only worse because I can't think of anything that I've done to deserve this. You can counter karma sometimes by apologizing…"

"Yep…" Riley answered, distracted by his sense of worry.

Steven sighed. "Okay… what's wrong? You have been spacing out for awhile now."

"It's nothing… Nothing at all."

Steven gave him a sarcastic look. "Uh-huh… … You-"

The doors to the office burst open suddenly and Sam jumped in, pulling a hat trick at the same time. "Heeeeey, guys! What's up!"

Riley's secretary was outside the door, freaking out. "N-no… You can't just jump in unannounced like that… I'm so sorry, boss!"

Riley sighed. "Don't worry about it…"

She nodded respectfully but continued apologizing as she closed the doors and left. Sam plopped into the other chair with a roguish grin. Steven saw the look on his face and groaned.

"Arceus… Sam, what have you done now?"

Sam waved him off. "Oh hush, you. I haven't done anything." He gave Riley a very expectant look that was just over-flowing with devilish glee. Riley stared at him distrustfully.

"I don't want to ask."

"Oh, COME ON! Riles, you're killing me. Ask."

Riley shook his head and held his head in his hands in despair. "Okay… Fine. Did you find her?"

Sam laughed. "Oh, man… Did I! Riles, you dog." Riley sighed heavily.

Steven looked at them both, completely out of the loop and confused. "What? Found who?"

Sam flashed him a broad grin. "Cheryl… Did you know about Cheryl? Because I didn't."

"I'm familiar with the girl… But I still don't understand."

"Okay, so… Riles called me last night and asked me to go out to Eterna Forest and find some girl named Cheryl and make sure that nothing happened to her. So… I did. And…"

Steven interrupted Sam, who was very eager to tell the tale, coldly. "Let me guess. You flirted with her and she's cute and you got her number and whatever. I've told you before, I don't want to hear about your c-"

"No, no, no! This is WAY better than that!"

Riley interrupted their conversation. "Okay, just so we're clear. I am _still _here."

"I know, Riles. I just don't care… Anyway… Riles is dating Cheryl!"

"No way! … Since when?"

"I don't know! But she was determined to find a ring that she'd lost and it was super important to her because Riley gave it to her."

Steven looked back at Riley, who was blushing at this point while aiming a death glare at Sam, who was totally ignoring him. "Aw… Riley… Don't you know better than to give her a ring on the first date?"

Riley stared at him with disbelief. "Steven! I can't believe you're going along with this!"

"Oh, come on Riley… She's a nice girl… I think it's sweet."

"I think it's adorable," Sam reassured him.

Riley was red now. "Shut up! You guys are acting like children!"

"Alright, alright… I'll stop. I'm sorry," Steven surrendered, knowing that Sam could handle teasing Riley all by himself.

"I won't. I mean, come on Riles… _You_ should have been the one to go save her. You're supposed to save your own damsel in distress, not send another man to do it," Sam scolded him.

"I was not going to leave and try to find her in that Arceus-forsaken forest! And what difference does it make, she's safe now, right?" Riley asked, growing increasingly more and more frustrated and embarrassed.

"Of course she's safe… But seriously, man… You're lucky that it was me who went because your girl is a complete ditz."

"Lucky? I'm starting to think it was a terrible idea!"

Sam looked offended. "Yes. Lucky. I know the rules man…" Riley gave him a sarcastic look. "Bros before hoes."

"Augh! You're impossible!" Riley face-palmed with both hands. While he wasn't looking Steven, who was trying _very_ hard not to laugh, reached out a fist for a fist-bump, which Sam obliged him to quickly in hopes that Riley wouldn't see, which he didn't.

Riley finally looked up. "I never teased you about Phoebe," he pointed out, trying to find something that would shut Sam up. It didn't work.

Sam just laughed. "Phoebe? Me and Phoebe are nothing like you two. You guys are just sweet… There was nothing cute and innocent about me and Phoebe, trust me. And for the record, she _way_ out of your league of experience."

Riley finally turned to his last option. "Steven… Come on… Help me out."

"Can't help you, Riley. You're going to have to fight your own battles with him. I'm staying out of this one."

Sam grinned and waited patiently for Riley to say something else. He scowled. Then he remembered. "Alright. Fine... What about Daisy? You left your hat in Kanto, that prized hat that you loved and had it for three years, and you come back and expect us to believe that it's just magically gone? … … You gave it to Daisy, didn't you?"

Steven gasped. "You did! Aww… That's sweet."

"… … Okay. You win. I'll stop." Sam finally agreed, very quiet for few moments. "But that was a low shot."

Riley sniffed. The red color finally leaving his face. "It shut you up. That's what counts… Now… You said Cheryl was safe… Where is she?"

"I brought her here because she seemed so dejected that you didn't come to get her. Figured you could go make it up to her." Riley shot a frosty glare at him. He shrugged. Steven was chuckling quietly. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Get out. Go. Both of you."

They both got up and left, with Riley right behind him. He locked the doors to his office as he left. Sam and Steven exchanged amused glances.

"I saw that… No, you are not going to follow me," Riley told them sternly.

Sam put his hands up in surrender. "Arceus forbid, Riles! I would never try to sabotage your date with Cheryl! Besides, I need to get back to Eterna City and go kill some space aliens."

Steven laughed. "What? Are you fighting little green men now?"

"That's right. I am an intergalactic force for good… And alien destruction!"

Steven started laughing. Riley stared at the ceiling for a moment and then face-palmed. "Why do I still talk to you two?"

Sam threw an arm around his shoulders. "Face it, Riles. Your life would be stale as centuries-old bread without us around."

"At least I'd still have my sanity…" Riley returned grumpily.

"You're not crazy yet… If you were crazy, you'd be like me and then we'd all be in deep shit."

"Thank you so much for your profound words… Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Cheryl before she gets lost… Or worse."

"Umm… Sir?" All three men turned around to look at the secretary, an older woman with blonde hair. "A woman with green hair seems to have fallen into the fountains while leaning over the railing… The guards aren't sure what to do with her."

* * *

**AN: **Well, I cracked myself up writing this chapter- hope you all enjoyed it too.

Alright, shippers who may or may not argue with me, here's the thing: I don't care who the 'favorite' is in Riley shipping. I don't ship anyone. _However_ Riley is twenty-frickin' five and the man needed a girlfriend. After careful consideration here's how I narrowed things down: I didn't want an OC because I wanted her to be a character you guys already knew; Marley is a little too doom, gloom, and shy for Riley; Caitlin was certainly rich and pretty enough, but then I found out that she would be, like, 14 at that time and, well, you know... Jailbait, so she was out; and Cynthia... Cynthia is _way_ too badass for a boyfriend- especially a little rich boy in a suit (sorry Riles). Cynthia needs a man's man. And then there was Cheryl. Riley is a nice guy and Cheryl is very sweet (if a little ditzy) and together they are what I affectionately refer to as a 'stupid couple'- where both are a little ditzy and kinda naïve. Long live the stupid couple... ... And Riley needed a little taste of nature anyway.

As always- big thank you to my beta and good friend, DarkAngelTorchic!

You're probably reading this maybe hoping that I'd tell you where that other two Disney/Pixar references are because one of them should have been ungodly obvious. Unfortunately for you, I am not going to tell you today, instead I opt to sit back and twirl my imaginary evil Disney villain mustache because I know all kinds of things about this story that you don't.

... It's a complicated relationship we have, readers.

**Thank you for reading and reviewing!**


	6. Chapter 6

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Eterna City slept peacefully. The city's people all curled up in their beds, the soft glow of a child's nightlight illuminating some rooms. The moon watched from the sky, bright and luminescent. Life below was mostly still- the kricketune were mostly quiet. The neon lights of the Pokémon Center glowed in the mostly traditional city, bathing the air around with its soft light. It was a still night… To the casual observer.

Two Galactic grunts were patrolling the Galactic Head Quarters based in Eterna City. Their path was obvious; they'd been walking the same square for the last four hours. They were amateurs, not used to this kind of precaution.

"Hell, man… This is ridiculous… Nothin's been happenin'. Wot the hell we out 'ere for?" one of them groaned with a tired yawn. It was very late, past midnight.

His partner, a scrawny little man, was not so calm and relaxed. He was twitching with nervous energy. "Don't say that… You know as well as me that Proteus went missin'. They still 'aven't found him. And our base in Oreburgh ain't responding."

"Bah! That's just twaddle. Everyone knows there's a rogue band of thieves in Jubilife that could have taken Proteus out in no time. If he couldn't defend 'imself, that's 'is problem. And Oreburgh? That mine ain't got a signal worth a damn. Jus' cuz they ain't said nothin', doesn't mean somethin's happened."

"I know but…"

"Dude, chill. It's a quiet night," he told him, shrugging his broad shoulders. He was so lax that he failed to hear the quiet footsteps following stealthily or the extra shadow cast by the lights of the Galactic Eterna building.

"Yeah… Quiet. Right. I think it's a little too quiet," he responded, twiddling his thumbs and glancing every direction as quickly as possible. Suddenly, a noctowl burst out of the tree beside them. The scrawny one yelped and latched on to the hefty man, who hardly glanced at the noctowl.

"Dude… … You need some meds or somethin'."

With the crisis over, he released his partner and brushed himself off awkwardly. "I, er…." As he paused he looked over at the Pokémon Center where a man with unruly curly blonde hair was sitting with his computer and headphones. "Say… Hasn't that guy been there for awhile?"

"I dunno… Why's it matter? He ain't doin' no harm."

"Maybe that's what he wants us to think… I ain't havin' it. I'm going to go and get rid of…" He was cut off suddenly and roughly when someone grabbed the collar of his shirt so tight the fabric dug into his flesh.

"Now, now… Let's not be hasty," a voice said softly. Even though the man behind the voice was a mystery, a smirk could be heard in the amused undertone. All the grunt could do was manage a confused gurgle. He felt only a brief but chilling steel blade at his throat before a finding himself falling into a permanent darkness. Sam stood over the fallen man casually and replaced the blade. Gardenia jumped the fence and gasped at the site of the bodies contorted in death.

"Oh my gosh…"

Sam ignored her. He looked over to Matt who looked up and nodded at him, the signal that all the cameras had been successfully hacked and were now all replaying old footage. Sam had originally planned to take the headquarters sooner, but Lucas had proved to be a bit of a nuisance. Gardenia hadn't been able to leave until Lucas had challenged and beat her. While they waited, Sam and Matt had surveyed the building, staking out from the top floor of one of their abandoned safe houses, an apartment on the south side of Main Street, looking for any weak point in the security, however mediocre, and a good place to break in.

Finally, after hours of boredom, around ten o'clock at night, Lucas had strolled into the Gym. Sam and Matt both watched the battle from the safe house after Matt hacked into the Gym's cameras, earning them an irritated call from Riley. Even after that, however, they still weren't in the clear. Once it got dark, the guards came out. Lucas had retired to the Pokémon Center, at least for the moment.

Matt picked up his laptop and left, returning to the abandoned safe house. Sam grabbed Gardenia's hand as he released his borrowed staraptor.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm going to have to leave you all alone for now."

Gardenia sneered at him. "Uh-huh. Stop fooling around. And don't keep me waiting down here! Get in and let me in too. We've got to get those thieves out of here. It's a serious deal," she lectured him.

Sam pursed his lip into a thin line with a somewhat pouty expression. "You're no fun… And maybe you didn't notice, but you were the one who held this up for hours on end. I thought I was going to die from boredom."

"Oh my gosh… Really? Will you please focus?"

"Yes, yes… I know," Sam muttered with a dramatically heavy sigh. Sensing that their banter was over, his borrowed staraptor took the skies before returning and picking up Sam. Upon eyeing the building in the hours of free time that they'd had, they had discovered a ridiculously big blind spot on the roof of the tower. One camera, plain windows with no alarm, no guards in sight, and a staircase to the lower floors where the kidnapped thieves were jailed. All in all, Sam had laughed hysterically at their infinite stupidity, but it was perfect. The windows on the top floor lead to a hall that lead all the way down to the basement with a plethora of stairs that wrapped around the whole building. A few guards lurked there, but they were all either sleeping or halfway there.

Upon being dropped off on the rooftops, Sam recalled the staraptor. Carefully, he walked over to one of the spikes that came off to the top. Beneath his boots, the gaudy yellow steel ring rotated on an axis hidden somewhere in the core of the building. He pulled out his dagger and slipped it in the crack between the window pane and the frame it sat in. With a slight click, the window popped open. Sam slipped a cautious boot onto the sill.

"You're good. Nobody's there," Matt told him over the walkie-talkie headset. Sam took his word for it, but that didn't make the physical task of maneuvering into the window quietly much easier. He retracted his boot as he saw a much simpler way.

_Of course._ He climbed back up on the roof. _The edge is rounded… That makes things difficult… But not impossible. _Completely unfazed by the fact that if he missed, he'd die, he dropped his body down the face of the steel dome that was the roof and managed to gracefully land inside the hallway through the open window. He shut the window behind him and straightened his black jacket, surveying the circling staircase that seemed to wrap around with building with the intent to strangle.

"Alright… It looks like all the guards are out like a light. There's walking a stretch but he'll have his back turned long enough that he won't be a problem for you," Matt said with a casual yawn. Sam rolled his eyes in good humor. "HEY! I saw that! Don't roll your eyes at me, darling… I will slap you for that."

Sam smiled and whispered quietly. "No you won't. You wouldn't dare harm my pretty face."

Matt was quiet for a bit. "Point… Taken. Plus I'm quite sure that you'd hit me back and I'm so squishy I'd probably die… … … Anyhoo, carry on then. I'll shut up now."

Sam smiled and shook his head. _Of course… Typical Matt._ Without further cause for delay he started walking down the stairs, daggers at ready for the first grunt he came across.

* * *

Two grunts sat in the security room. One of them was a slender woman with a serious attitude, the other was a gimpy-looking man who slouched in his chair drinking cheap coffee. In the last hour that they'd been sitting there watching the all the cameras show nearly the same picture: sleeping grunts. A lot of tension had built between the two. Thinking that he wouldn't be noticed, the grunt eyed his coworker's feminine figure again.

She narrowed her eyes and scowled. Without so much as pleasuring him with a glace of acknowledgment, she growled at him, "Get your filthy gaze off me or I will tear your eyes out of your skull with this pen."

He obeyed sulkily. "Nothin' else to look at."

She slammed her palms down on the surface of the desk angrily and sent him a venomous glare. "Why don't you try watching the screens like you're supposed to! I swear, I will report you to Jupiter."

He snorted. "Before or after you gauge out my eyes? 'Sides, Jupiter ain't my boss. I served under Proteus."

"Pity you didn't die with him," she sneered at him, brimming with foul temper.

"Who said he was dead?" he defended, irritated by the stinging retort.

"He disappeared in Jubilife trying to take the TV stations, what do you think happened to him? He certainly didn't get lost on the way there. Your boss is as good as dead now, so get used to Commander Jupiter now because that's who you're going to be dealing with from here on out."

He was about to fire an insult back at her when she paused and stared at the screens warily, confused by something. He looked, seeing nothing on the screen, but he did see a shadow cast by someone who had to be standing in the doorway. The door clicked shut behind them. He turned back in time to see a flash of black before feeling something hard collide with his temple, dazing him completely as bells rang unforgiving in his ears and stars burst in his vision.

Sam waited patiently for the two grunts to come to their full senses. He'd listened to their argument with amusement for a while and used the noise to hide his entrance to the room. His trek down the first two stories was met with little to no resistance, about seven grunts, all asleep except one who stood facing one way that was conveniently the opposite direction. Now these two sat on the floor holding their no doubt pounding skulls. The woman seemed to regain her senses first. She pulled off her wig in irritation, releasing short waves of black hair.

Sam approached her and knelt in front of her. He reached out and grabbed her small chin, making her look at him. He smiled charmingly as she frowned at him gamely. "Hey… I don't suppose you would help me out with a little question that I have."

She attempted a glare at him, but it was clear that she was a little too dazed yet. "I'm not telling you anything," she mumbled.

Sam sighed wistfully. "That's a pity… I'd rather not have to force you to tell me."

She looked away for a moment, a sign that she was unsure and probably very nervous. Sam kept his smile, though it was hard to not smirk. _Amateurs… They're so unused to not having to defend their boss this is hardly worth the effort. Compliancy really is unfortunate._

The man, who seemed to have regained his senses now as well, gave him a wary look. _He'd be easier to break… But…_ The woman looked back at him with her brilliant turquoise eyes, which were likely contacts, but still, was not bad looking by any standard. He leaned very close to her and a blush spread across her cheeks.

"I know that you keep the thieves in the basement and if I follow the staircase outside, I will find it…" he began, still holding her chin. "All I want are the keys to the prison you're keeping them in and the door before that. Just to make things a little easier for me. So… Why don't you be a good girl and just let me know where I can find them?"

"Don't tell hi-" the grunt started before Sam whipped out his hand made solid contact with the man's jaw, stopping him. He yelped loudly, but Sam wasn't concerned. There wasn't anyone nearby to even hear either of them scream and the walls were soundproof anyway.

"I wasn't talking to you." He turned back to her with a pleasant smile. "So, what's it going to be, lovely? Keys or death?"

He could see the hesitation in her eyes and his gentle hold on her chin became a cruel exploitation of the pressure point there. It was a warning, and it was well received.

"The keys are in the drawer on the left side of the desk… Along with the combination for the combination locks on the doors," she told him shakily, her eyes brimming with tears of pain and fear.

Sam smiled at her and relaxed his hand. After finding all of the promised keys, he turned back to them. "Thanks for your help…" With that cheerful statement, threw two throwing knives at the two grunts who were too scared to move. After picking them both up back (and wiping them off on the grunt's silly uniforms) he continued down the stairs, completely and utterly unopposed. Not even one sleeping grunt to be found.

Upon finding a window on the first story, which faced the west, he opened it. Gardenia climbed inside quickly. He started to say something to her, seeing as to she was extremely close to him, but she immediately put a finger on his lips and closed the window. He gave her a confused look.

"Umm… What is she- Oh, hello there," Matt cut in. He paused before continuing. "Lucas has arrived… He must have been too excited to sleep?"

Sam's confused look at Gardenia turned to one of slight annoyance. He removed her finger. "These walls are soundproof, so we're fine," he told her.

"Oh… Well, I just didn't want Lucas to see. He came out of the Pokémon Center and I was worried. You got here just in time. Seriously."

Sam shrugged. "Did you hide the bodies of those two other guards?"

"Yeah… I had my pokémon take care of them… And you seriously kept me waiting. But… What's the plan?" she asked, not even trying to move despite the fact that Sam was practically on top of her.

He was the one who decided to take a step back, for no other reason than to respect personal space. "Well, if Lucas chases them out, that makes this that much easier for us. I don't think we'll even need your pokémon now. Let's go get the thieves and get the hell out of here." He motioned for her to follow as he walked down the hall. It took a turn left and they followed the small stretch of hallway to the door. Sam pulled out the keys and opened the padlock and then entered the combination without even looking at the slip of paper since he'd already memorized the code.

Gardenia's eyes widened. "How did you do that so fast?"

Sam shrugged and flashed her a smirk as he responded sarcastically, "I guess I'm just that good."

Gardenia snorted, sensing the sarcasm but too smart to try and get an honest answer from him. They'd talked earlier and she'd spoken to Roark, as well as being warned by the Thief Lord himself, so she had a pretty good grasp on how he… Behaved. Which is to say that he didn't.

Sam walked down the stairs confidently, knowing that there were no guards down there at the moment and even if there were, Matt would say so. Sure enough, there was no one there but the captured thieves, one of which was a young girl who Sam recognized.

"Grey?"

The girl looked up at him immediately and then jumped up excitedly. "Sam!"

Gardenia put her arms out wide. "What am I, chopped liver?"

Grey looked at her for a moment. "You seem to be human, Captain… Sam, did you come here just for us? Did you kill all those damn shitheads?"

Sam laughed as he opened the door to her prison, releasing her. "I did. I came out here just to find my little lost mousey."

"May the staraptor tear their corpses up and shit them into the ocean," Grey stated as she walked, or, rather, limped out.

Sam helped her out with a pointed stare at her leg, which was heavily bruised. "Did you give 'em hell, little Grey?"

"I did better than that! Those dick faces didn't see it coming. They thought I was a harmless little girl until I slammed my pocketknife into one of their throats," she recounted to him, ignoring Gardenia completely.

Sam smiled and clapped her on the shoulder heartily. "That's my girl! You have learned well." Grey smirked up at him, folding her arms across her small chest with proud attitude. He left her then to free the other two thieves; a slender man with a messy fop of tangerine-colored hair over his turquoise eyes and laid-back woman with eyes and hair the color of plums. They weren't much worse for wear than Grey, but Grey's sharp tongue and biting sarcastic comments had probably gained her the extra beatings. _She did exactly what I would have done… _Sam realized with an amusement.

Grey had taken a shine to him, and he had taken a shine to her as well when they'd met awhile ago. She was a kindred spirit who had learned from brutal necessity how to steal, not being mentored. It put her a notch above the other thieves older than her as she was only twelve. Sam had somewhat taken her under his wing, but not as a mentor so much as an older brother, which he did a lot. Though, Grey had bit of a chip in her shoulder.

With the other thieves free as well as the collection of stolen pokémon, including a shuppet that immediately went to Grey, Gardenia looked to Sam. "So… Now what?"

Matt updated Sam on the happenings on the other side of walls. "Lucas is on the third floor now about to battle Jupiter. You should be fine to just sneak on out. The boy is showing them who's boss… It's fun to watch."

"Thanks for the info, Matt," Sam responded with a small smile.

"Oh, make no mistake, this whole thing is fun. I get to watch your every move… It's like I'm stalking you, except you know and it's okay because it's actually what I'm supposed to be doing."

Sam sighed. "Too much information."

"Eeh… Sorry. Not really, but, you know, if it makes you feel better."

Sam rolled his eyes and gave Gardenia a 'what can you do?' look. "Alright… I'll see you later." He turned off the headset since he wouldn't need it now and turned to address his group. "According to Matt, we're in the clear. We'll go ahead and head out. "

Gardenia nodded, as did everyone else. Grey tried to keep up with them gamely going back up the stairs, but she quickly fell behind. Sam noticed this, of course, and slowed the pace so she could keep up without hurting her feelings. Gardenia fidgeted at the slower pace and kept looking at Sam and walking faster but he ignored her and continued to walk leisurely to the window he'd let Gardenia in through. He opened it quickly and Gardenia crawled through it followed by the two other thieves. Sam helped Grey out, earning a mumbled, 'I don't need your help'. Gardenia lead them back to the street as Sam followed, the pokémon they had released dispersed, running towards their old homes or finding their roaming trainer's scent and chasing after it.

Sam watched them all scatter with a trace of worry and sadness._ I hope they find their trainers… _He looked forward and saw the thieves standing there looking to him for further instructions. Startled, he stared back at them for a moment. Sure, he'd been giving Riley advice, a lot of advice, but it was more collabrative and mostly Riley. Sam had never _actually _been in charge. He cleared his throat, something about them relying so much on his orders was messing with him. It was an odd feeling. "That safe house has been cleared. Go there and stay put… We'll see what happens after Lucas comes back out. Gardenia, you can go back to your gym."

The thieves nodded and dispersed, Grey waved at him as she limped away.

"Are you sure you want me to go to my gym? I assume that you'll be meeting with your partner in crime to watch how this plays out… Shouldn't I be there?" Gardenia asked with an unsure expression.

Sam paused to second-guess himself. _Perhaps… That was the wrong call… _"Yeah… I suppose it'll be easier if you just come too. Good point…" He turned away mentally checking himself. _Why on earth did I just stumble like that? I can't believe I didn't think that through all the way. What is wrong with me all the sudden?_

Gardenia followed him mostly quiet as Sam led her to where Matt had set up his equipment. He was sitting watching the screens pretty intently with Cat and Michael huddled in the corner together pouting until they saw Sam. Immediately, they jumped up and pounced on him, startling Gardenia. He pet them in turn and showed them a moment of affection before going over to sit beside Matt to watch the ending battle between Lucas and some psycho chick with purple hair who went by the code name Jupiter.

Lucas had his Grotle out and ended the battle with the woman's now very weak Skuntank with a forceful tackle that left the battered, mangy pokémon in the dust.

Matt's eyes widened and he nudged Sam excitedly. "Did you see that? That was the coolest tackle I've ever seen! And that skuntank? Totally gross!"

Sam gave him a look before returning his gaze to the screen. They could hear the woman talk to him in anger.

"Losing to some child… Being careless cost me too much," she gritted out grudgingly. Lucas re-folded his scarf neatly and straightened his cap coolly before recalling his Grotyle. He accepted his winnings graciously.

_Impressive boy… Usually they're at least a little snotty… He's just really serious. But I won't complain. It's a nice change… _He watched closely catching all the details, much to Cat's annoyance that he wasn't paying her any attention.

"Well, aren't you tough…? It's OK, though. Our official pokémon statue investigation is finished. Mars has collected energy from the Valley Windworks. We're pretty much finished here. I'll let you in on one little thing. Our boss is researching the myths of ancient pokémon. With the power of mythical pokémon, he will become the ruler of Sinnoh… I suggest you keep out of Team Galactic's affairs from now on. This is your last warning," she growled menacingly before escaping quickly with all her men, probably to their official base, wherever it was, leaving their Eterna Headquarters open to infiltration. Lucas looked around himself a final time before leaving as well, calm as can be.

Sam exchanged glances with Matt. "There was something at Valley Windworks?"

Matt shrugged. Gardenia answered. "I heard that they put the place in a lockdown, but apparently Lucas took care of it."

"And what was that about legendary pokémon?" Matt questioned.

"I have no idea…"

Gardenia broke in again, this time with a wry smile. "You boys don't know Sinnoh very well yet, do you?" Sam and Matt shrugged and she chuckled. "There's a statue outside town of some legendary pokémon. I heard that it was vandalized recently… It must have been these guys."

"That… Would makes some sense. But if he's going after legendary pokémon, I think Hoenn is a shining example of how bad that can be," Sam commented grimly.

Gardenia grimaced at the thought of the damage to Hoenn. "Actually, this would be worse. We're talking about Palkia and Dialga, they control space and time."

"And I suppose there's no Rayquaza around to bitch-slap them into behaving either, huh," Matt inferred, dead serious.

Gardenia laughed shortly. "No… I don't know of anything that would bitch-slap them for us… Though… I heard about some other pokémon known as Giratina, but its supposed to seriously be just a legend."

"Pretend that it's not a legend and tell me what you know about this beastie."

She thought on it, bringing back to mind any tidbits of information that she'd heard over the years. "Giratina is said to be some dragon that lives in an inverse reality known as the Distortion World. It was banished for being too vicious, apparently. That's pretty much it."

"Great… Just great. It's just an angry psycho pokémon that would probably be even worse. Awesome. I can't even begin to express how excited I am," Sam grumbled, sighing with irritation.

* * *

**AN: **Oh, come now, Sam, you know how much you love legendary Pokemon rampaging on the world.

And meet Original Character **Grey**, folks! She was submitted by ... **PikaKnight**! Thank you very much for her! Grey's a foul-mouthed little thing, but she likes Sam. She'll be back for a second round in a later chapter and I'll get her Shuppet more in then. I have decided... I have spoken! Anyhoo, thank you very much PikaKnight and I hope Grey was perfect!

And also: here's to the first Friday of school! Yay! ... ... I hope you sensed the sarcasm. Cuz it was there. School is... Bah. But whatever. I've got zip for classes so I'll live.

Big thank you to my beta and good friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**! Read her stories. Set Yourself On Fire has a slow start, but I would like to point out that some of the best books I've ever read had slow starts. Once a story like that picks up the action- BAM. There's no stopping it.

... ... Oh! And the Disney references from last chapter! They were:  
-_"The Luxray King." = _The Lion King which you all caught.  
-"an old, expensive-looking compass (even though it wasn't pointing north)" = Jack Sparrow's compass from Pirates of the Caribbean which is Disney, just not animated.  
-"The door had been broken off its hinges, a few splinters that remained showed that the door was white and had what might have been floral patterns on it." = This one was tough and_ very _subtle, but it is Boo's door from Monster's Inc.

**Thank you for reading and reviewing!  
**Adieu until next Friday.


	7. Chapter 7

No copyright infringement intended.

*Chapter subject to later edits when I get them: Sorry for the delay (especially to **guisniperman**)

* * *

Anyone could see the scars left by old machinery in the man-made walls carved though the massive, hulking mountain. Stalactites and zubat hung from the ceiling tenaciously and rocks and the beginning mounds of rock, that would someday grow into a full stalagmite, tapered off in its rise for the ceiling sat on the floor. Fair-sized boulders dotted the cave of what was considered the 'main floor' or 'atrium' of Mount Coronet. Sam stood in front of staircase off to the far north side of the cave.

He breathed in the dank, moist air for a moment and savored the silence that had come for the first time in what seemed like days. He and Matt had left Eterna City so early in the morning that it seemed to still count as night. Sam had led him through the route off from Eterna City, to and through Mt. Coronet, and dropped him off in Hearthome City. Though he was very tired and Matt was all for going back to sleep, Riley had called and wanted to talk to him in Celestic Town after Sam told him about the legendary pokémon business. There were ruins in Celestic Town and no one was wiser on the subject of the legendary pokémon than a sweet old woman whose daughter had spawned the terrifyingly beautiful Cynthia. Sam met up with him and talked with her in a very serious discussion. All in all, Team Galactic summoning the said beasts was as Sam predicted: very bad.

Afterwards he'd wanted to explore Mt. Coronet before he left. Actually, he'd wanted to explore the entrance to the mountain in Eterna City, but this tunnel area was one in the same with that one so it was good enough. When he'd taken Matt through the southern end of the mountain, he'd detected something… Off about the place and felt the need to investigate. Plus, he hadn't fully explored the mountain and curiosity was a cruel master.

Beside him, Michael stretched his limber body with a sleepy yawn. Cat was in her pokéball since she was afraid of the dark.

Being careful not to slip on the moist, slime-covered stairs hacked into the flesh of the mountain; Sam stepped down into a swirling, disorienting, white mist. Like a voracious beast insistent upon swallowing everything, the mist blocked anything hardly a step in front of him and closed up again behind him. Michael looked up at him curiously. Sam considered letting out his staraptor to defog the area but the mist was almost cool in a whimsical and yet annoying way.

Cautiously, he took one step forward after another, trying to not stare into the mist for too long knowing that the mist played mind games. Shaped seemed to move with the heart of the mist's embrace and some men could be driven crazy by it.

Off to the right, he saw the solid ground give way to a staircase. The smell of water was strong so it was probably a lake and likely where the overpowering fog came from. Cave lakes were cool, but not worth the risk of breaking his neck over so he kept moving forward, passing boulders and more staircases until the fog revealed a boulder and the wall of the cave directly in front of him. Seeing more rock wall to his left, he looked right and saw the staircase there. Michael trotted over to it happily. As Sam started to follow, he heard a very strange buzzing noise. He paused.

_What… Is that? _He listened more intently and barely caught the sound of little _zaps_ flicking from some unknown wire. _Electricity? Down here? … That can't be right… _

He pressed the palm of his hand against the cold stone of the walls and could feel the steady pulsing buzz of a powerful electrical current. _That's weird… There's something odd about this place. _With just a mental note to thoroughly investigate the area later, he continued on up the stairs where Michael was waiting for him impatiently whining.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Calm yourself," Sam called up to him. The humidity present in the floor below had kept what might have been a frigid cavern warm. Leaving it now, Sam found himself unprepared for the brutally biting cold wind that whipped through and the drastic temperature drop. Michael seemed fine, happy even. Sam was not near so thrilled.

Cursing the freezing weather bitterly, he pulled his hood up and shoved his hands into his pockets. Michael pranced around excitedly as Sam walked dejectedly forward, fighting the urge to just turn back. The only thing stopping him from doing so was an odd chunk of rock ahead that seemed different from the surrounding rock wall with frost (or was it snow?) gathered at the base of the wall. On either side of the odd frost and stone were the tiny, cracked remains of what were likely stone pillars long ago.

_It's… A door of some kind… But why won't it open? There doesn't appear to be any… _Sam was distracted as something tiny and shiny flew past his face. Michael was barking excitedly outside though that was the most Sam could tell since the blinding light hid all else.

"I don't even want to know…" Sam muttered, looking back to the door. Michael came racing back in and pounced on him, knocking Sam to the cold, hard ground. He was covered in ice, but panting excitedly and wagging his tail furiously. Sam pushed him off and sat up. "I am not going out there…"

Michael wouldn't take no for an answer. He grabbed a hold of Sam's jacket between his sharp teeth and pulled on it with a growl and a whine, almost pulling Sam up to his feet. Once he was up, Michael grabbed his sleeve and continued to tug.

"No, Michael… Michael, stop! Let go!" Michael growled, not giving up. Sam scowled at him, but still he insisted. With a reluctant sigh, Sam allowed Michael to drag him outside into the blinding light. After blinking repeatedly and trying to let his eyes adjust to the abrupt and unwelcome change, he found himself standing in what some would have termed a beautiful expanse of snow-covered landscape and majestic mountains by most people.

"What kind of fresh, frozen Hell is this?" he breathed, appalled by what might as well have been the Ice Age returning to him. Sam read the ice-laden sign next to him that labeled this new Hell as Route 216.

Contrary to him, Michael seemed to be greatly enjoying himself, rolling in the snow like it was the best thing ever. With the snow whirling around him what seemed like a maddeningly cheerful dance and the sun cruelly absent in the shadow of the mountain, Sam was chilled and about as happy as a soaked cat. He turned sharply on his heel and returned to the cave hearing Michael grumble as he followed dejectedly.

Once they were all the way back though and standing on the craggy path of Route 211, Michael flew Sam back to Hearthome City. Knowing that it was finally nine O'clock, going back to sleep was really just out of the question until later in the afternoon… Except he'd need to talk to Fantina at some point and the afternoon was usually a good time for that. So really he'd just have to deal for the rest of the day. Since they weren't in Mount Coronet anymore, Sam pulled out Cat's pokéball and released her. She yawned and stretched her body and tried to take in her surroundings groggily. Realizing that she knew where she was, she jumped back up excitedly. Of all the places she'd been, it had been obvious to Sam that this particular city was probably her favorite. Her mind and simple understanding couldn't comprehend the expansive city with the large variety of people (some stranger than others).

Realizing that a request was being organized between Cat and Michael, Sam waited patiently for the suggestion. Really, he would happily entertain any time-killer at the moment. Finally, Cat had her plea organized and tugged on his pants.

"_Kat iz a wantin' ta goa ta de gaurdin plaes wit de litl howses."_

Sam nodded and gave her a pat on the head, assuring her that he understood. "Ah, Amity Square, huh? … Sure, why not. I take it you want to go too, Michael?" Sam teased him. Michael growled in response and twitched his tail unhappily, unamused.

"Well, let me know if you guys want anything else, we've certainly got time to kill here," Sam told them with a careless yawn. Cat clapped her hands, barely containing her joy. She skipped ahead of them, tearing around recklessly. She almost knocked over a baby carriage of one mother near the Poffin House, though between Sam and the poor woman, they managed to keep it from tipping too far.

He heard the mother snap at the nearby man who he assumed was her husband or at least the baby's father and then stormed off and told him to watch the carriage. Sam tried to catch Cat before she did anything else, which he failed to do. She also managed to cause an artist to lose his pencil as well, tripped one woman after running in between her feet so Sam had to catch her, and almost scared the life of a pachirisu. Basically, anyone and everyone who got in the way would walk away with some form of traumatic experience. She stopped at the gatehouse for him, running in circles nipping at her own tail. Sam sighed wearily.

"Cat… It's too early for this kind of sh- behavior…" he said with sigh, making an effort lately to at least try to censor his language in front of her after one particular incident.

"_Eetz de Ahmeaty Sqauall! Ah wantz to plae!"_

Michael growled at her grumpily, but Cat ignored him. She wasn't in trouble unless Sam said she was in trouble and while he clearly disapproved, he hadn't scolded her so everything was fine. Luckily for her, he was mostly just too tired to try and teach her the error of her ways. As soon as he came up beside her she bounded into the gatehouse and right to the other door impatiently. Sam had no choice but to follow. They passed a woman wearing the blue uniform customary of any city worker. Outside, they immediately came up to the worker at the entrance desk and Sam had to hold back a groan. He knew her and she would recognize him for sure. He had taken Cat here one other time… It had been somewhat disastrous.

"In Amity Square, you may go for a stroll with a cute pokémon. Okey?" she began automatically. He flashed an innocently charming smile at her. "Oh… boy."

"Hey, aren't you a lovely sight on this fine morning… How've you been?"

She sighed and tapped her fingernails on the red counter. "I remember you… And your abra…"

Sam propped both elbows up on the red counter and adopted a more apologetic expression. "I am… Very sorry. Perhaps you have me mistaken with somebody else…"

She leaned forward, propping her round cheek on her hand and her painted red lips drew back in a smile. "Oh no, I don't think so. You're the guy who brought an abra in and that same abra almost burned the place down after picking a fight with some rich man's happiny!"

Sam sighed, but neither affirmed nor denied her statement. "She _really _wants to go play in Amity Square."

"I really want to keep my job," she responded, not missing a beat.

Sam frowned and tried to come up with something that could beat that. "Well… … … What do I have to do to convince you?"

She tapped her fingernails on the counter again. "Hmm… You're cute," she started thoughtfully. Sam grinned at her cheerfully. That smile was quickly wiped off his face when she put her hand out expectantly. "Cash please."

"How much?" Sam asked suspiciously, already not liking the turn of events.

"How much is it worth to you?" she returned.

Still frowning, he pulled a hefty wad of cash from his pocket and watched her face carefully as he pulled out bill after bill to see what amount of cash would excuse Cat's behavior. Finally, he ended up handing her the whole hand seeing the tiny smirk.

She accepted the cash and stuffed it into her shirt with a jeer. "Thank you for your patronage, sir. Have a nice stroll."

Cat skipped in happy, finally, Michael had already snuck in to them once they were in the garden and chose the disguise of a pachirisu. Over the years, he and Sam had developed a bond so close that their emotions and feelings reflected on the other so Michael was quick to detect Sam's irritation and knew that Cat had caused some trouble. He growled at her to scold her, passing along Sam's irritation. They exchanged a heated debate before Cat turned around and looked at him innocently.

"_Mikal saed dat Cat iz en trooble!"_

Sam pet her on the head reassuringly. "You're not in trouble… But you're going to be if you don't behave yourself," he warned sternly. Cat nodded meekly. "Go on and play then."

He'd hardly turned his back to them to sit on the nearby red bench when he heard Michael's startled yelp. He wheeled around to find that a skitty had latched her teeth into Michael's tail. Growling menacingly at the odd screwball of a skitty, Michael was quick to nip at her with his sharp teeth and she let go, mewing happily. Cat was very happy to pursue a game with the skitty while Michael was pouting.

Sam flicked his gaze around looking for the owner of the mischievous skitty. The owner was not hard to spot. _Arceus… It's Will._

The frazzled, pale, willowy stick of a man stared off after his skitty who Sam now realized was the infamous Silly. Will was an odd and dysfunctional fellow and he was constantly a mess. His denim jacket hid most of his wrinkled red shirt that had holes and his gray slacks were frayed at the ends. His squinted green eyes were probably his best feature in his rather disorganized face.

Sam put on a pleasant smile for the man. "Will, been awhile, how are you?"

Will looked at him blankly. "I'm sorry… What? Did you say something?"

"Nothing…" Sam said with a sigh. "Don't worry about it." Will was known as the 'Circus Thief' as a nickname and a known contortionist… Back in his day, he was very famous in the Guild, but he just lost it after awhile. Some said he just hit his head on something… _really _hard. Others speculated that he was slowly slipping all along. Regardless, his dysfunctional brain was constantly conjuring up half-baked schemes... And while they almost always worked, no one was every crazy enough to try them so Will ended up being demoted down to just a free-lance thief.

Will looked even more confused now. "Did I miss something? I'm sorry… I was just wondering… What would it be like to be a pokémon?" He stared at the pokémon playing, his green eyes wide with curiosity.

Sam looked at Silly, who was apparently fascinated by her back foot and bit it before her tail came into her vision. She then chased her tail till she was so dizzy she almost fell over, but she did eventually chomp down on it pretty hard. Proud of her feat, she pranced around proudly with her own tail in her mouth as if she was leading herself around. Cat was making faces at her own reflection and Michael was sulking. He looked back at Will. "I have a pretty good imagination, why on Earth would I use it for that?"

Will shrugged and Sam could see the gears turning behind his green eyes. "Do you think if I put some antifreeze and some bleach..."

Sam tuned him out just nodding occasionally to reassure Will that he was listening... Even if he wasn't.

"And then... I'd turn myself into a magikarp... They're so fascinating," Will finished finally.

Sam clapped him on the shoulder cheerfully. "Will, I think you should go through with that... You just stand right here keep working out your little scheme, I have the utmost confidence in you."

Sam left him to sit on the bench where he could watch from a safe distance. Cat seemed to be trying to teach Silly how to play hide n' seek but it kept turning into a game of tag one way or another. Michael was eventually knocked into the water while trying to play with them and be nice, but that was the end of that. He came back to Sam and flopped down under his feet as a luxray grumpily.

Will eventually just plopped down where he'd been standing. He was apparently besieged by imaginary butterflies or something and kept bending in weird and impossible ways. Sam grimaced in distaste and decided to ignore him as much as possible.

He was mostly spacing out when Michael growled and kicked his foot, drawing his attention to the person who'd just walked in; Shannon. Sam watched her with next to no expression causing her cheerful smile and wave to wilt. She approached him almost sheepishly.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Go ahead. I don't care."

She sighed, that was clearly not the answer she was looking for. She sat down beside him about as close as she dared. She was quiet for a while and the silence was more awkward for her than it was for him. Finally she found some words to say. "Did I irritate you that much?" Sam just grinned in response. She sighed. "Alright… Fair enough. If I met you and all you kept saying was Team Galactic this and that, I'd probably be pretty annoyed too."

"Oh? Well, I'm glad there's some understanding then," Sam responded sarcastically.

"Can I at least explain myself?" she asked, seeming very apologetic.

Sam looked at her suspiciously. She stared up at him with her bright pink eyes under her long lashes, begging him to listen. _This is new… _He shrugged. "I've got time, shoot."

"Alright… I know my behavior has been a little… Suspicious. If I were you, I wouldn't trust me either. Before that thing in Jubilife, I'd heard some tales of Team Galactic and I was curious. They seemed to be taking over but I never heard anything about it other than some odd whispers here and there. The more their influence seemed to spread, the more I started to sense a shift in power… Like they were kicking somebody else out… Am I wrong?" She asked him, prying for a response.

"Hmm… I can neither confirm nor deny that," he told her with a smirk.

Shannon laughed shortly. "Right, right… Well, anyway, when I saw them come into Jubilife I wanted to watch and see if I could figure things out. I was trying to figure what side of this subtle war I wanted to be on… Then you and your group of buddies came out of no where and I figured you guys for being the other side."

"And you decided you liked the other side just from that?" Sam asked, that roguish glint in his eyes and a smirk on his face.

"Well, I definitely liked you so I figured you were the side I wanted to be on," she returned, scooting closer to him.

"Hmm… Well, that's quite a story..."

Shannon winced at his lack of emotion. "Okay… I still haven't said enough yet… I figured you knew more about Team Galactic and I wanted to know more about what was going on… You had that information. I figured it wasn't too much to ask but you've kept your mouth shut on it... For whatever reason."

"It's related to the job. Anything related to the job is a secret."

"Well, I want in on your job. I assume there's some amount of reward in it?"

"Nope. No reward."

She paused thought her next move out quickly before she cuddled up closer to him, wrapping on arm around his waist and resting her cheek high on his chest. "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter… I can find my own reward."

"Mmmm…" He leaned his face close to hers with a small smile before crushing the happy look on her face. "I get the feeling that you're trying to achieve something from all this and I'm not getting it."

She scowled and moved away from him, folding her arms across her chest and crossing her long legs as she slouched and glared at him. "You're impossible, you know that?"

He smiled charmingly and chuckled. "Oh, no I think you're just frustrated because I'm not near as stupid as you thought I was."

Her glare sharpened, but she smiled faintly. "I'll admit, I underestimated you… And as much as that irritates me… I find it oddly attractive."

"Ah… So this is all a bid to get a little more than a one-night stand?" he inferred with a chuckle.

She shrugged and played with a strand of her platinum hair. "You're wrong… Technically."

He reached over and took the strand out of her fingers and leaned close, resting his elbow on the back of the bench. "Oh? How am I wrong?"

She leaned closer to him. "I want more of a business deal."

"A business deal that gets you the information you're so desperate for and me… And I get what exactly?"

"You get me…" she responded smugly with a wink.

"Hm… Well, I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you're not near as special as you think you are. The only reason I even entertained you once is because your little stunt in Jubilife piqued my interest. Now my curiosity is sated. If you want to be 'business' partners, you're going to have to sell it much better than that."

She frowned and thought it over. Then her eyes lit up with an idea. "Of course, I'll also help you whenever possible."

"Help me? Please, I don't need your help," Sam said dismissively.

"Oh? I'd like to point out that if I hadn't stepped in and taken care of those guards for you, you would've been in trouble."

"That was fluke," Sam returned.

"Oh sure, sure. But where else are you going to find a woman who would do something like that for you?"

"I'm sure I could manage… You'd be surprised what charm and the promise of money can get you," he responded with a smirk.

She snickered. "Fair enough, but where would you find a beautiful woman would do something like that free of charge? All I really want is some information… Everything else is more… for fun."

Sam laughed. "Fun? I guess that's fair… Fine… _Partner_, maybe you aren't so bad." _It's just Team Galactic… Who knows? Maybe she'll actually prove useful? What's the worst that can happen? _"I'll tell you… _Some_ of what I know, kay?"

"Works for me," she responded with a shrug, mocking his nonchalant mannerisms from earlier.

"Good. Now… I suppose the obvious first: Team Galactic is a vast army of people who don't actually know what it is they're fighting for. I guess their boss is some guy named Cyrus and his right hand is Erys. Then there's some… admins or something. There used to be five, but one of them… Came up missing recently. Their names are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Charon… And there used to be a Proteus."

"The one who's 'missing'?" Shannon asked, amused.

"Yes… Though I can't imagine what could have possibly happened to him," Sam told her completely serious.

She kissed his cheek and smiled. "I'm sure you don't."

He grinned at her before going back to being more serious. "Anyway… I guess the over-arching goal is world domination… And they plan to use legendary pokémon to get there. They were probably inspired by Team Aqua and Magma's success in their little spree in Hoenn. Beyond that, there's really not much to say."

She nodded slowly. "Legendary pokémon, eh? … … My, that doesn't sound too good."

"Oh, you know, it'll just rip a giant tear in the dimensions in the world, stop time and space from moving, and wreak intergalactic hell… No big deal," he recounted with a bored tone.

Shannon snickered. "Interesting… Well, we can't allow that. So where are they based here?"

Sam smiled at her charmingly and pinched her cheek as he stood up. "_That _is none of your business, alright, sweetheart?" Michael crawled out from under the bench with him and he called Cat as she and Silly started to get a little wild. Before Cat did something she shouldn't again, Sam was going to leave. Shannon stayed behind for a while. As soon as he left with that damn smirk, she scowled and pulled out her phone.

Her gravelly voice answered rather quickly. "Shannon…. You'd better have something good to tell me…"

"I have… Something. I managed to plead my way into getting him to talk a little bit about Team Galactic. He says that they're planning on using some legendary pokémon of time and space… As far as their goal goes, he didn't seem to know. But I think you're right about him… I think he really is just a soldier taking orders as they come. The brains of the whole operation lies elsewhere. There's no way he was the one who planned Team Rocket's destruction."

"Mmm… Well, that will suffice enough to save your hide for now but mark my words, next time you call you'd better have something better than that," she snarled.

Shannon grimaced. You didn't fail Her… And Arceus help you if you did. "I understand… I have to say… He's not near as easy as I thought he was."

She could almost feel the red eyes narrow. "How so?"

"I had to make a 'business' deal with him… So I'll have to hold up my end of the bargain… That being to help him take down Team Galactic. Otherwise I was apparently just destined to a one-night-stand."

There was silence on the other end of the line and Shannon held her breath nervously. She'd been on Her good side thus far and that's where she wanted to stay. Finally, a low snigger came into hearing that grew louder into a full laugh before dying again. "Of course… Go ahead and take down Team Galactic. The goal is to push Cyrus into a desperate situation and… Destroying time and space is a fool-hardy goal anyway."

"Yes, Madame," she breathed in response, trying not to let her relief show. She heard the phone hang up and snapped her own closed and pressed the cool metal onto her forehead as she sighed. When she looked up, her eyes landed on Will, who was in by far the oddest and most unnatural position she'd seen.

"Oh, Arceus! Eew!"

* * *

**AN: **UGH... It's so late... And I'm so tired. Last night. Home football game. Band performance. Realized at 5 o'clock that I needed to publish chapter 7. Geez.

And WOOT! _Will _is an OC submitted by **g****uisniperman**! I managed to describe him insanely accurately... I had to tell instead of show so you guys understood. I'm so sorry... He will be getting not only a second appearance, but a very significant one... Because, hey, who else would do something so crazy?

Big thank you my beta and friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**! (She's busy, it's not her fault.

Finally downloaded Gimp! So all OC work will be resuming (finally) as I'm starting to shift between artist's block to writer's block. Heehee... Does that mean you'll be getting delayed chapters? No. Just means that I'll be slower responding to reviews and stuff. I'll finish writing Sinnoh (more than likely) and not write again till October when the new Black and White comes out, knowing me... Which I do.

Chapter 8 will be published on Friday on time (hopefully). Again- sorry for the delay.

**Thank you for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Sam waited patiently in the lobby of the skull and ghost infested gym for Fantina. After three hours of arguing and haggling with her, he finally got her to agree to skip out on being a competitor at the Contest Hall and work on getting rid of Team Galactic. Fantina was a member of the Guild… Barely. She was new and her loyalty and time went to cosmetics and her outrageous hair first and foremost. After an exhausting argument with her last night, he'd convinced to do something far simpler with her hair when they left in the morning. He pulled out his phone to check the time.

"7:30… Seriously? How long does it take?" he muttered under his breath, less than patient. Not quite soon enough, he heard her high heels coming down the stairs. He didn't even look at first. _She had better be able to function well in high heels…_

"Ah! You are already here… That is good! We should go now, non?" She walked to the door and failed to notice the absolutely stunned expression on Sam's face until she turned around after opening the door. Sure, she put her hair in a ponytail… But she was still wearing the giant purple ball gown. She gave him a weird look and pursed her painted lips together. "You are very strange… What is the matter with you?"

Finally past his initial shock, Sam smacked his palm into his forehead. _Here we go again… _"Fantina… I know you're new at this whole… Work deal so I'm going to say this as nicely as possible… Lose. The. Dress!"

She looked down at her glittering dress and back at him. "It is beautiful, non? Why must I change?"

"Because we are not going to some fancy party… We are going on a very important mission to eradicate Team Galactic from your city! You can't do that in a _dress_! Much less an outrageous ball gown!" he responded, his voice rising slightly with irritation.

Fantina took the defensive. "We are going to the Pokémon Hotel, non?"

"Well yes, but that's-"

"Then I must be dress properly. Come now, you're wasting time."

Sam narrowed his eyes and scrambled for some way to convince her to lose the dress as she calmly walked out. As an idea came to mind, he resisted a smirk and relaxed into a completely nonchalant manner. "You're right… I'm sorry… I guess blood stains will come out of your dress."

Fantina froze and looked at him suspiciously as he walked past her coolly. "Blood stains?"

Sam turned back to her with a small smile. "Oh yes… You know how it goes… People bleed and it has this awful tendency to spray everywhere… But you don't want to change so let's just go to the Pokémon Hotel and kick out some rowdy residents! After all, I'm sure a little blood on your pretty silk dress won't be a problem." He continued walking away. It didn't take Fantina long.

"Non! Come back! I must change!" She rushed back inside. Sam couldn't help a smirk.

Matt, of course, had to comment. "Well then… Don't look so smug now."

"No, I get to be smug. I finally won in an argument against her and it didn't take more than an hour."

Matt laughed a little. "No wonder you don't have a real girlfriend. You're going to have to learn to have more patience for ladies… We have to work so hard to be ready for the day and impress all the pretty boys like you!"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… Whatever."

"Though, I'm glad she changed out of the dress. That looked like pretty expensive fabric and I SO want to know where she got it. It would have been terrible if she'd gotten it bloodied or, Arceus forbid, torn it."

"I'm so glad you could add your fashion-minded input to my already perfectly logical decision. Thank you for that, really."

"Hush up, darling- we both know you'd be a mess without me."

"Right, right. And without me around somebody would have beaten your stupid ass to death a long time ago."

"Oh, P-sha! Don't be ridiculous! I can handle myself in a fight… The ol' one-two right?"

Sam laughed. "Matt, I would pay good money to see you in a fight."

"Yeah, and I bet you'd put bets on the other guy, huh?" Matt responded sassily.

Sam shrugged. "Probably."

Matt sighed. "You're… You know what? I think you've got a gambling problem. You should, like, go to therapy or something."

"I don't have a gambling problem," Sam replied dismissively.

"You have a gambling problem like I have shoes," Matt shot back. "You put bets on every opportunity that comes up… Much like I buy every cute pair so shoes I see."

Sam shook his head with a bored sigh. "Matt, it's not a gambling problem… It's only a problem if you constantly lose."

"You… Pr… What? That is not what defines a gambling problem!" Sam just grinned. Matt was freaking out. "UGH! You are ridiculous… Completely and utterly ridiculous! You SO have a gambling problem."

"Matt, if I have a gambling problem then you must have a shopping or shoe problem. So I'll stop gambling if you stop buying shoes."

"B-but… I can't… That's like asking me to stop breathing! … … Ooh, touché. I see your point."

"Let's see… That puts me 2 and O already and it's not even noon," Sam commented smugly.

"… … To be fair, you still have one other major problem."

Sam laughed. "Really? And what would that be?"

"Oh, I think a certain Mr. Someone has some pretty major commitment issues."

The smile on his face immediately disappeared. "That… Is ridiculous. I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Of course not." It was Matt's turn to be smug now.

Sam frowned and refused to talk further. Fantina finally came back out. Sam was grateful for the interruption until he saw what she had decided to change into.

"What was that about being 2 and O again?" Matt commented.

Sam looked at the frilly, white silk blouse she was now wearing with her high heels and flowing, purple skirt that was a doomed to get caught on something. He sighed heavily and contained most of his irritation. "Well, it's _not _a dress."

* * *

No amount of poetic words, flowery cards, or cute kittens could undo the trauma…

Team Galactic was holed up on the third floor of the Pokémon Hotel like fish in a barrel. Matt had cut power to the place and messed with all the security cameras. Sam didn't ask how- he for the most part just assumed that a firewall was bad and Matt would take care of it. All in all, however, it was a beautifully simple task with all of them penned up in one room with no escape. Unfortunately for anyone in the vicinity of Hearthome, Sam had made one apparently catastrophic mistake: he got blood on Fantina's pretty, white silk shirt.

_Arceus help me… _

"Fantina? … Fantina…? Hey, are you alright?" Sam asked meekly. _This is not going to be good._

Completely dazed and shocked, she stared at the droplets of blood that had rained onto the expensive fabric. Sam debated trying to clean it off but assumed that he would probably just make it worse if it wasn't already ruined.

"Uh… Matt? What should I do?"

He heard him sigh. "Well, first get her out of there. Yeesh! I will meet you at the Gym."

"Alright…" Sam took off the headset that connected to him to Matt and gently steered Fantina towards the door. She pulled the stained fabric into view, her eyes still wide with disbelief.

"It's ruined…" she whispered, heartbroken, as they walked down the stairs.

Sam flinched. "I'm sure there's a way to get the blood out…" he attempted to assure her even though he really wasn't sure himself. _If anyone can take care of it, Matt would know how… … How bad could it be?_

"Non! It's the finest silk top I could find! It is from home- I cannot get another like it!" Fantina cried in despair. Sam lead her across the main floor and held the door for her as she slumped through.

"Don't be silly… I'm sure Matt can fix it!" Fantina stared forlornly at the stain. A woman stared at them as if they had six heads as they walked past. Even the baby in the stroller was giving them a weird look. _I guess it's not everyday they see a guy dressed in black, laden with weapons, and covered in blood walking around with their downtrodden gym leader, _Sam mused as he ignored them, he was used to people giving him strange looks. Fantina caught sight of their stares and Sam felt her tense up immediately.

He looked at her with concern and confusion, alarmed by her sudden flip from depressed to panic. "What's the matter?"

Fantina patted herself down and started fretting over her hair, patting it down and smoothing it out randomly. "Is my hair okay? Is something wrong with it? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?!"

Sam sighed heavily. There wasn't another game in the world he hated more than the 'how does this look' game. "You look fine. Let's just get to the Gym so we can take care of that bloodstain… Since that shirt is so important." He kept his voice calm and level, but a hint of irritation shadowed his words. Fantina mulled over what he said and seemed to cheer up for a moment. Not two seconds later, her shoulders slumped again and she was staring dejectedly at the red stain on her cream white blouse. Sam winced. _Oh Arceus save me… She also has mood swings!_

Trying to be as kind and polite as possible, he also pulled open the doors to the Gym for her. He started to follow her inside when the door was pushed open further into him.

"Hey now! I need to get in too… Yeesh, open the door for her but you won't for me… The nerve!" Matt shot off, his voice dropping into a grumble as he passed carrying a small green purse. Fantina looked at him, completely confused.

Sam answered her. "He's a friend… Well, sorta."

Matt sneered at him in response to the 'sorta' before smiling brightly at Fantina. "Trust me, girl, I can get that blood stain out in a jiffy! I'll have you sparkling like water soon enough."

He grabbed her hand and skipped along pretty confidently considering he had no clue where he was going and he was leading the way. Matt was apparently, an instant comfort to her. He asked her about the blouse and the skirt, where she shopped, what hair products she used, and complimented and applauded her 'fancy-dancy' style. Sam started to follow but changed his mind. It wasn't like Matt was going to do anything to Fantina. He turned and went back to the Pokemon Hotel quickly. As he did he caught a glimpse of Lucas going to the Pokemon Center.

_So he's here now… He won't be challenging the Gym so soon, but it's important_

He walked to the top floor unhindered by Fantina's loud heels, Matt's constant useless narration, or the enemy standing nearby that he'd have to deal with. After he killed the last grunt, he'd turned around and found Fantina staring at her white shirt with horror. He hadn't had time to go through the room for anything that might be useful to them. Now that he was back, he took stock of the damage he'd caused to the room. Tables were upturned, chairs knocked over, curtains torn, and glass broken… And pools of blood on the carpets, of course. Since the Pokemon Hotel turned out to be a smaller deal than he'd originally thought, he'd just put Michael and Cat in their pokéballs and kept them with him.

He released Michael and gave him a moment to adjust to the new surroundings. Michael looked at him for directions.

"Nose around and see what you can find," Sam told him. Michael nodded and transformed into a Mightyena. Sam watched quietly as he nosed the fallen grunts and sniffed around. The grunts had all massed here for some type of meeting. There were about fifty grand total packed in like sardines. Sam's gaze drifted to the face of one young girl in the Galactic uniform and felt a small pang of guilt. _I wonder why she joined… If her story is anything like my own and she was just mentored in by the only family she had… _With a heavy sigh, he looked out the window to the cityscape outside.

He'd had no problem taking out Team Rocket way back when, but he'd grown to have some vague feelings of regret on that one. In truth, he could have just killed Proton and Petrel and that would have been enough, but revenge had a knack for growing and wanting to destroy everything in its path. Now he had a lot of blood on his hands and not all of it was strictly evil. As far as Team Galactic went, the grunts weren't really bad they were just… Stupid. In truth, he didn't want to play any part in the slaughter, but, like any soldier, it wasn't really his choice.

_It's them or us… Simple as that, _he mused, watching a starly fly past the window. Michael barked suddenly and whined. Sam walked over to him quickly, recognizing that as Michael's way of saying 'I found something'. In fact, he was prancing impatiently so whatever it was it seemed important. Sam crouched down beside the dead man and looked at his pocket that Michael was pawing at. A small slip of paper just barely showed from the folds of the fabric. Sam pulled it out and unfolded it. Michael watched him with wide, curious eyes.

"_What does it mean?" _he asked.

Sam shook his head. "I don't know." He traced the scribbles and drawings on the page. _This looks like the stained glass window in the Foreign Building… But what the hell do all these numbers and symbols. These are all senseless ramblings… _He turned at the pages, looking at the various scribbles and poor handwriting. _This must be some secret code of theirs… It's going to be hell to crack, but some ought to be able to…_

As he stared at the page longer, little details started jumping out at him. Little marks that seemed too deliberate to be an accident. His brown eyes shifted to gaze at the now peaceful face of the dead grunt.

"What are you trying to say?" he whispered softly. Michael hovered behind him where he could see the page too. Suddenly, his baby blue eyes flashed and he started growling menacingly as his hackles raised. Sam folded the paper back up and stuffed it in his pocket as he listened intently for whatever had set Michael off. The sound of people coming up the stairs reached his open ears soon. With a wave of his hand he hushed Michael and pressed his body against the wall next to the door as he pulled his dagger from its sheath. He waited patiently, silent as shadow and as visible as a ghost, for the door to open. When it did he expected more Galactic people to be coming to check on their comrades. Who he got was the literal opposite.

"Arceus!" Riley exclaimed taking a step back at the sight of the bodies. Sam shook his head and stepped out in the open where he and Steven could see him.

"What the hell are you two boneheads doing here?" he asked, not amused. Michael growled at them in disapproval before slumping to the floor, disappointed at the lack of action.

Steven sneered at him, equally unamused. "Here for an update on information. You've been slacking."

Sam raised his eyebrows and sneered back. "I said I'd call when I took care of something. I just took care of it and I was going to call."

"So much blood," Riley stammered as he backed away from the scene very pale.

Steven and Sam both ignored him. "Yeah, and you made a fine mess for the Guild to clean up and pay for."

"Oh, whatever. You and I both know you came here because you were worried about me," Sam fired back. "But why you brought Riley along is beyond me."

"Guys…"

Steven sighed, exasperated but refusing to affirm that he just came to check on him. "Riley wanted to come."

"Do you know how-"

"Guys….!"

Both Sam and Steven turned to Riley impatiently. "What?"

Riley covered his mouth with his hand as his face took on a greenish parlor. "I think I'm going to be sick…" Sam and Steven exchanged looks before Steven started escorting him away.

Sam looked at Michael. "Keep looking. If you find anything else, grab it. Go back to the apartment with Cat when you're done. I'll be there soon." Michael nodded and resumed his search as Sam walked away, following Steven and Riley.

As he caught up with them he couldn't help a snide comment, "You just had to bring along Mr. McChicken, didn't you?"

Steven started to reply, but Riley interrupted him. "No, perhaps I overestimated myself…" A more normal color was returning to his face and he straightened his jacket and exhaled slowly. "I came because I'd caught wind of Team Galactic spending a lot of time at the Foreign Building… Did you find anything pertaining to that?"

Sam pulled the paper out of his pocket and handed it to him. Riley took it all in calmly and apparently with more understanding than Sam had. "So… They DO write in code. I'll work on cracking this myself. In the meantime, the stained glass window in the Foreign Building seems really important. Let's check it out."

Steven shrugged. "Sure."

Sam grabbed both of them by the arm and pulled them back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa… Hey, you guys need to consider the situation better."

Riley frowned. "What is there to consider? It's just the Foreign Building."

"For starters, you shouldn't even be out in public. Do people even know some guy named 'Riley' even exists? You can't just materialize like that and then be seen with someone like me because Team Galactic will probably put two and two together pretty fast and then we'll be royally screwed."

"Well, I-"

"And two, what part of my general bloodstained assassin appearance makes you think that I should be in a place like that?"

"It'll be fine," Riley countered dismissively and shrugged him off.

Sam glared at Steven, who shrugged helplessly. As Riley walked away, they were forced to follow, though Sam was not at all happy about it. He looked up at the old, weathered battlements and towers of the old building. Fantina had commissioned the building's construction as soon as she'd come to Hearthome. The former Gym Leader, a hefty young man who was instantly infatuated with the purple-haired, exotic woman who'd landed in his city out of nowhere, was happy to oblige. She'd wanted flair from her home and asked to give the plain, square building a face-lift, leaving the inside intact. He'd agreed and the citizens went along with it, charmed by the new building's interesting and beautiful architecture, gargoyles and all. Fantina said it was a 'cathedral' but the citizens couldn't pick up the name and just called it the Foreign Building until it finally just became the official title, even if it was really stupid name for such a monumental building.

Riley walked inside the historic building easily and Steven followed calmly. They blended right in, the people there didn't mind the formally dressed men in their midst. Sam, however, attracted a bit more attention. An old, bald man wearing blue robes approached him almost immediately.

"My son, what brings you here?" he asked with his deep voice, folding his hands behind his back.

Sam grimaced. "I won't move from this spot," he promised, unable to give a real answer.

It seemed enough for the old man and he nodded respectfully. "Thank you, may Arceus watch over you," he declaimed as he returned to his post by a statue in the northeast corner of the building.

"Yeah, you too, buddy," Sam returned, standing awkwardly near the entrance, the target of a lot of wide-eyed stares. Sam waved at them in acknowledgement. Riley and Steven didn't seem to even be aware that he wasn't near them as they stared at the stained glass window and spoke with the old man who had approached Sam. Seeing no point in standing he sat down quietly in the last bench and proceeded to space out in boredom. The other people decided that he was harmless and not going to kill them all and turned their attention back to whatever they were doing before.

Completely lost in his own thoughts, he had no idea how much time had passed… Or that Matt had just walked in.

"Hey, buddy!" he greeted loudly, startling not just Sam but everybody in the room. "So I took care of Fantina and she gave me this totally B-E-A-Utiful scarf. We're totally bff's, actually forever, man. And… … Okay, seriously, why are you giving me that look?"

Sam tugged at his eyebrows and sighed in exasperation. "Matt… Dial it down…"

Matt snorted. "Why? It's not like anybody else is saying anything." Sam sighed again, and caught sight of Riley, Steven, and the old man staring at them, or more specifically, Matt. "Anyway, Fantina put on her pretty dress and then went to watch the end of the super fabulous dealy. Apparently her friend Johanna was in the match and they're all buddy-buddy because Johanna's friends with Keira and whatever and whatever. And-"

"Young man… I am very sorry but I must ask you to quiet down or leave," the elderly man in the blue robe interrupted. Riley and Steven right behind, Steven aiming an accusing glare at Sam while Riley just seemed utterly confused by Matt.

Matt looked at the old man and waved him off. "Oh come on. This place is SO dull you guys need to make some noise, cut loose, have some fun… And loose the robe sweetheart, blue is so not your color. NOT fabulous," he lectured, completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

Riley finally turned to Sam and gestured at Matt. Sam got the message pretty quickly. He stood up and gestured at the door. "Matt, maybe we should just go…" Matt seemed to ignore him for a moment and stared right past him. "Matt!"

"Yeah, yeah… Burt first, who's your friend?" Matt asked, with a flirtatious smile. Sam turned around and finally realized it was Riley Matt was staring at.

"Don't you have something else to do?" Sam returned.

Matt smiled at him and winked. "Oh, I think I just found something to do… … Poor choice of words by the way."

Sam smacked himself in the forehead and sighed before grabbing Matt by the arm and literally dragging him away.

Steven and Riley stayed behind. Riley looked at Steven, who was shaking his head slowly, with confusion. "Umm…"

"Why can't he just make friends with normal people…" Steven grumbled with a sigh.

"… I have absolutely no idea what just happened… That guy was a kinda weird though," Riley commented, genuinely oblivious. Steven gave him a sarcastic look but bit back a sarcastic remark.

"Riley…" he started instead and clapped him on the back, "Just don't worry about it. Someday it'll dawn on you."

* * *

The room was silent, dead silent. It was as if the whole atmosphere trembled with fear despite the calm, impassive look on Cyrus's face as he gazed down on the quivering grunt.

"What do you mean 'people have been disappearing'? People don't just disappear," Cyrus growled, betraying no anger in his face. At his side, Aaron looked away, sensing the storm brewing inside Cyrus.

The grunt shook visibly and he sank to the ground. "I… Proteus never returned… We haven't found his body yet either and the Director of Jubilife TV isn't talking… Communication with the mines in Oreburgh have stopped and we didn't get a shipment from them at all… And the Eterna Base was abandoned shortly after, but we can't get back in now… We're not sure what's going on but-"

Cyrus cut his stammering off with a wave of his hand and stood up. "Enough… Get out of my sight, you sniveling wretch," Cyrus commanded, his voice dripping with contempt. The grunt didn't need any further orders, he scrambled up and fled as fast as he could.

As soon as he was gone, Cyrus let out a long sigh and sat back down in his seat at the head of the table. "I suppose you're going to tell me the Guild has returned, huh?" Cyrus growled at Aaron in foul temper.

Aaron swallowed, not wanting to feel his wrath. "It's the only explanation… … And She might be the solution."

Cyrus's typical scowl deepened. "I want nothing to do with Her…"

"She knows the Guild and she predicted this… Regardless of our differences, if she has any strategy to offer, we'll need it."

Cyrus sighed and seemed to calm. "Fine… If you want her help, go deal with her. That man, Mr. Fuego seemed to know her quite well, he might be able to help."

"Do we not have a say in this?" Jupiter asked, miffed at being ignored.

"No, you don't… The future of Team Galactic is under MY control, don't you forget that," Cyrus growled at her before walking out of the room, Aaron at his side. Jupiter stood up and trailed after him, tears in her eyes at being yelled at. Only Saturn and Mars were left.

Saturn sighed and brushed his blue hair away from his face. They'd been called in so suddenly he hadn't had time to spike it up like he usually did. It hung loosely in his face in perfectly straight locks almost down to his shoulders. He smiled at Mars gently. "Well, looks like we're in for a treat, huh? Cyrus is mad, the Guild might be back, and that psycho old lady will be hovering around..."

Mars smiled a little bit. "Yeah… This place is going to be real cheery…"

Mars watched Saturn's face turn from a smile to a sad, almost wistful expression. "S-S-Saturn..." She reached out and touched his hand. _C'mon Mars… You can talk to him. _"W- What do you think of that woman?"

His eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "Who?"

"The… The psycho old lady," Mars elaborated with a meek look.

He shrugged. "Mmmm… I guess I though she seemed pretty volatile… I don't think we should trust her… But she also seemed to know what she was talking about with the Guild and that's more important than our pride."

Mars nodded slowly. Saturn sighed and tousled her red hair. "Mars, if there's something bothering you, you can talk to me. Jupiter isn't around so now is the best time."

Mars breathed in slowly and then exhaled to calm herself. "You're right… Saturn, I was… I was born in Johto. My mother's name was… Ariana. She worked for crime syndicate known as Team Rocket…"

Saturn's blue eyes widened; Mars continued. "I didn't know her very well and she abandoned me at an orphanage when I was five because my father couldn't stand the sight of me. When I was adopted and taken to Sinnoh, I thought that would be the last time I'd hear from her, but then six years ago she called me. She said that Team Rocket was on the verge of something big and she said that I should join them."

"Did you…?" Saturn asked softly.

Mars shook her head. "No… No, but… She only called in hopes of convincing me to join in their time of need. She told me everything… She said that my father was the head of Team Rocket... His name was Giovanni and she said that I had a brother now. She went on and on about how well things were going and how they were going to create a Mew and how she was going to try to bring back their old boss… … My grandmother."

Saturn's eye widened even further as he put two and two together. "… No…"

Mar sniffled. "Yes… She described my grandmother as a beautiful, vicious, and powerful woman who had always gone by 'Madame'. No other name was ever known. I thought that maybe... but it all makes sense…"

Saturn sat back in his hair, reeling a bit from the information. Mars panicked a bit at the expression on his face. "I…! I don't think she recognized me and besides, doesn't that mean that she was lying? Team Rocket was… Team Rocket was taken down by Red right?"

Saturn looked back at her, his face very grim and sober as he recalled her talking of past brushes with the Guild. "Or so the story goes," he said grimly.

* * *

**AN: **Ever notice how similar Ariana, Silver, and Mars look? ... Well, now you'll think of it every time you see them all.

Don't have a lot to say right now... I can tell you that I will probably start being a lot slower getting to reviews and messages now- I don't check my computer as often as I used to.

Thank you to by beta and good friend: DarkAngelTorchic!

Note: I have changed a bit of my policy on submitted OC's. Check out my profile if you're interested at all and while I've been pretty accepting in the past- I'm going to be asking more and using less.

**Thank you for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Winds whispered though the old cracked stones, sounding like soft screams of agony. Surrounded by the fine sand created from the its own rocks, the Hallowed Tower was a place of murmuring malevolence and a harsh message of how in time, everything falls apart. The current man didn't seem to mind as he peered down into the depths of its cavernous basement of the last of the rocks that huddled together around their dark campfire. But then again, when had a few creepy stories ever stopped him?

Sam leaned over the edge so far that he could have fallen in as he tried to see into the darkness. Michael sat on the opposite side, watching, and Cat was chatting up some Chansey.

"What do you think, Michael? Think there's something nice we can… Liberate down there?" Sam asked with a roguish twinkle in his eyes. Michael sighed and growled to say 'I don't care.'

_This is obviously the basement down there… And it looks like there used to be a lid of some sorts that will block the top… Must have fallen through. _He traced the ridge where the lid would have been and until he felt something protruding from the rocks. He moved his hand and stared at it. _That's… a pipe? _He followed it up and found himself looking at Michael, who was staring at him sarcastically.

"Move," Sam told him and gently pushed him aside, getting an irritated growl from Michael. On the surface of the rock was an indentation where some type of stone or perhaps key that was supposed to go. _Probably an odd shaped little thing,_ Sam mused. _Whatever it is, I don't have it. _

Looking into the abysmal depths of shadows that composed the Hallowed Tower's basement, Sam couldn't help but want to explore. He tested his weight on the wall and watched for any loose stones to move and listened for any cracking sounds. Satisfied that the crumbling wall was sturdy enough, he rummaged through his gray canvas bag and pulled out a six-prong hook and settled it securely to the top of the wall. With it in place, he pulled out a coil of rope and tied it to the ring on the hook as well as sliding the other end through the clamp on his belt before throwing the rope over the edge. Michael leaned over the edge to watch it disappear into the darkness and looked up at Sam skeptically, as if to say 'are you serious about this?'

Sam grinned at him as he lowered himself over the edge. "You can come too since I know you're going to worry about me," Sam teased. Michael growled in response and got up so he could face the opposite direction. Sam smiled and lowered himself further into the basement.

_Normal wall height is about nine feet… The floor should be close_. He looked up and gauged the distance between him and the top of the tower. _That's a good four feet away… I'm roughly six feet… … _Sam looked beneath his feet, peering into the darkness and seeing… Nothing. Nothing but a swirling mass of more darkness. _Where the hell is the floor?_

Curious now he continued to drop down the rope, pulling out a rather dim and very small flashlight from one of his pockets. All over the walls were names and writings. _There has to be at least a thousand… _Realizing that he would probably be running out of rope soon, he started to drop even slower, finding the rope with his boots first. With more time now to look at the clearly ancient stones around him, he suddenly realized that everything was written backwards as if a mirror was reflecting the normal words.

_Why… …? Who has time to write things like a reflec-_

Sam's thoughts were completely cut off when a drop of water passed his face. The rock walls around him were moist now instead of dry like they used to be. _Maybe this place was actually a well? _He watched the drop fall… And then it suddenly stopped and started going back up. Sam watched it bounce back and forth off nothing until it hung perfectly in midair below him.

_What… the… hell? _He looked down with the help of his flashlight around saw a small rock doing the same thing just below the drop of water. Even further down from that he saw what appeared to be dark clouds swirling and something bright red flash and then disappear.

_Wow, Sam… You need to get more sleep. You're losing it. _No longer curious, he started to pull himself back up.

* * *

Dawn and Barry sat next to each other on the bridge connecting the middle island to the other side of Route 209 leading to Solaceon Town.

"So… Where's Lucas now? How's he doing?" Dawn asked, watching her prinplup glide with the magikarp, her bare feet moving gently in the cool water

Barry snorted. "Lucas? Oh, trust me, you don't need to worry about him. We got to Hearthome yesterday. I think he was planning on challenging Fantina around 3, so in about two hours he'll have his next badge."

"But aren't you guys friends? Don't you want to be there to cheer him on?" Dawn questioned.

"Well… Er… … That's just not how guys do things," Barry returned, obviously flustered.

"Oh… I'm sorry then… I didn't mean to intrude. "

An awkward silence fell on them as they struggled to find a different topic to talk about. Dawn braided a lock of her hair until she caught sight of a reflection of an abra next to her in the water. Startled, she turned to see the small creature looking at her.

"Oh, hello there… … You're not a wild pokémon, are you?" Dawn rattled off nervously. The abra hopped closer and Dawn scooted away, running into Barry.

"Hey! What are you doing?" he yelped in surprise until he saw the abra, then he instinctively wrapped a protective arm around her. "Is it wild?" he asked, trying to reach one of his poke balls.

Dawn shook her head. "I don't know."

The abra cocked her head to one side and put an ear back as if they were behaving strangely.

"I don't think she means us any harm," Dawn whispered, though still terrified. Wild pokémon were supposed to attack people right? … But abra were supposed to be shy creatures that would teleport away at the first sign of trouble.

It ventured just a little closer but stopped at the sound of an angry bark. All three froze. A snarling luxray bounded out of the trees. The abra snapped at it with remarkably snarky attitude for a supposedly laid back, benevolent pokemon. With a vicious growl, the luxray snatched the abra up in its teeth and ran away, carrying the flailing and furiously squeaking abra with it.

Dawn jumped up immediately. "C'mon, Barry! That luxray is going to eat that poor abra! We have to help it!" She ran after it quickly, leaving Barry, her boots, and her prinplup behind.

"Wait, Dawn!" Barry called as he tried to gather her things and keep up with her. Dawn didn't stop or even slow down, she followed the sound of the squeaking past an odd clump of rocks and into Solaceon Town. The luxray was there, it dropped the abra unceremoniously on the ground at the feet of a man, his gray bag slung over his shoulder easily. The abra got up and immediately started pulling on his pants and pointing at the luxray like a child tattling on her sibling. She saw the knowing glance pass between the trainer and his luxray who actually shook his head. That's all she saw before Barry plowed into her.

Dawn shrieked with surprise as they both fell to the ground, Barry landing on top of her. He got up quickly, blushing just a little bit. "… Sorry, Dawn… You… You shouldn't just stop all the sudden like that! Geez!" Barry ranted, though starting off apologetic.

Dawn scowled and raised an eyebrow at him. "I suppose that was a million dollar fine?"

Barry's eyes widened and he ran a hand through is windblown, blonde hair. He was going to answer until they heard the trainer with his luxray laughing… Obviously at them. Dawn blushed and started picking up some of her things that had flown out of her pockets when she'd fallen. As she reached for her hat, someone else picked it up. She looked up and recognized him as not only the same guy with the luxray but also the one from Jubilife who had helped her pick up her scattered papers.

He handed Dawn her white hat with a warm smile. She snatched the hat from him and set it back on her head. "Thanks… Again. This is the second time we've met, huh?"

Barry jumped back as he also recognized him. "You're the guy who was with my cousin!"

He raised his eyebrow at Barry. "Ah yes… And you're Palmer's unfortunately impatient son Barry. I introduced myself last time, so I would prefer you call me 'Sam' as opposed to 'that one guy'," he said, with a wink at Dawn as he helped her up. She pulled on her oversized pink boots that Barry had brought for her.

"Thank you… Um… So is that your abra?" she asked with a pointed stare at the abra, who upon having her pleas of innocence ignored had climbed up his leg, latched onto his bag and proceeded to clamp her arms around his neck and nuzzle into his face.

"Unfortunately, yes she is," Sam answered. "I suppose she was pestering you before Michael grabbed her for me."

"Oh no, no, no! Not at all… She was just saying hello… I think. I was just worried that your luxray, um… Michael, was going to eat her and I was worried…"

"Uhh… No… I don't think luxray eat abra on a daily basis… But I could be wrong. Maybe the professor would know. You'd have to ask him," Sam jested.

"I suppose I could… But he already thinks I'm strange…" Dawn mused, taking Sam's joke seriously.

Barry finally interrupted the banter after erupting into an impatient little dance. "Okay, that's great, meet and greet but let's move on now! The next gym leader is in Veilstone!"

He grabbed Dawn and started pulling her away, but she protested. "But! But! Barry! This is Solaceon Town! I want to see if I can ride the ponyta here!"

Barry paused. "What?"

"The ponyta! They have them here, don't they?" she asked, looking at Sam. He nodded. She looked back at Barry, as serious as she'd ever been. "Professor Rowan said that if I asked nicely, one of the ranchers here would probably let me ride one! It's, like, my dream since I was a kid!"

Barry sighed, impatience radiating from him. "Fine… Let's go find some random stranger."

Sam slung an arm around both of their shoulders. "Now, now, Barry, that won't be necessary… I know just the right folks for you novices."

Barry snorted. "Puh-lease, we don't need your help."

Dawn ignored Barry completely. "Ooh, really! You'll help? That'd be great!"

Barry groaned. As Dawn leapt ahead excitedly, Sam hung back with Barry just long enough to say, "You sounded a lot like your cousin Matt just then… Thought you should know." With a smirk he walked back up beside Dawn, leaving behind a red-faced Barry, who could do nothing more than grumble in denial.

Dawn latched on to his arm happily. "So who are you taking us to see?"

Sam turned right after passing the Pokémon Center and nodded in the direction of big man in overalls.

He turned to look at them and his weathered face broke into a big, warm smile through his beard, pushing up the wrinkled around his blue eyes. "Well, howdy do, folks!" he greeted in an unsurprisingly deep voice and a tip of his hat.

Sam tipped his hat back at in return. "Howdy, Ralph! You're fit as a fiddle."

Ralph laughed heartily. "Darn tootin'! But the ol' breadbasket needs filled… I'm fixin' on heading in soon… Reckon I oughtn't be laying out all day."

"You're a right busy man, Ralph. Suppose you wouldn't mind my people with me?" Sam asked him with a gesture at Dawn and Barry, who were having trouble following the conversation.

"I reckon I don't. But the missus may be fit to be tied to have extra mouths to feed. Bring 'em along! We'll feed 'um up good and proper," Ralph declared as he started heading due west.

Dawn tugged on Sam's sleeve as he started to follow Ralph. "I'm not hungry," she whispered meekly. Sam nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well now, Ralph, they didn't tag along fixin' for food… They were hoping to ride the ponyta… They're good folks."

"Mmm, well, saves more bidoof pie for me!" he bellowed with a booming laugh. Sam laughed with him, but Dawn and Barry were positively pale.

She tugged on his sleeve furiously, "Is he serious?"

Sam shook his head with a chuckle. "Of course not. You've just got to pick up on the lingo. It's kinda fun."

"I don't think I want to talk like that," Dawn muttered.

Ralph led them up past the Day Care where there was a section of the picket fence with a lock on it. He pulled a ring of keys from his big overall pocket and unlocked and opened the gate, letting them inside first and closing the gate again behind them.

"You folks new around these here parts?" Ralph asked Barry.

"Uh… Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm. I figured so. You know, there used to be nothing here but a road that went straight through. Over time, Pokémon and people just gathered, and the town came to be. This whole place used to be full of ranches. There was a right big one yonder… It was taken down and left for the wild pokémon. Grass still grows purdy tall like it used to."

"Now, Ralph's family used to own the whole western part… But it was piddlin' size next to the other ones," Sam told them.

"Rightly so… But the ol' family is still standing. We rent this here land to the good folks to raise pokémon, we got our own pasture just past this windbreak," Ralph explained as they walked.

"Watch yer step now, missy," Ralph cautioned as they walked through the so-called 'windbreak'. It as long line, three trees wide. Once on the other side, Ralph opened another gate and they were standing in a large field with ponyta and rapidash. Recognizing where they were, Cat was getting antsy on Sam's shoulders. Michael was entirely unmoved and followed along calmly as they walked to the white house on the hill. A little girl in overalls like her dad and blonde hair in pigtails skipped up to them.

"Howdy, y'all!"

"Howdy, Naomi!" Sam returned.

She grabbed Cat off his shoulders and held her in her arms happily as she walked on the other side of him, which Cat was happy enough to live with as she pulled treats from her pockets. "You been gone for almost a week… Where did you go this time?"

"Been around… Work to do. You know how it goes, little miss," Sam teased as he pulled on one of her pigtails.

She stuck out her lower lip and pouted at the lack of answer. "Did… Did you come by to take Zora back?"

"Yeah, figured it was high time," Sam admitted.

"I took good care of her, I promise!" Naomi blurted out loudly.

Sam grabbed the tip of her hat and pulled it down into her eyes. "Don't be silly, I know you did. But she can't stay here forever so I'll just pick her up while I'm passing through."

Naomi nodded but hugged Cat rather tightly making it obvious that Zora would be missed greatly. They walked in mostly silence to the house. As soon as the door opened, they could smell whatever Ralph's wife was cooking.

"My sweet flower, Mollie! I brought some folks back!"

Mollie, his chubby wife with a homely face and rosy cheeks turned to him, wiping her hands off on her floral print apron. "Ralph, I swear, I'm fixin' to… Oh! Sam!" she squealed, her round face breaking into warm smile. "We sure missed having you around, Sam!"

She reached out for a hug, which Sam, of course, obliged. "Mollie, my dear sweet woman, you're as pretty as ever!"

Ralph snorted. "Eh, she's purdy alright."

"You shut your trap, Ralph!" Mollie retorted, smacking him with her ladle. "Dinner ain't ready yet and Sam probably wants to go see Zora while he's here. Go take 'im an' 'is friends out to the field." With that dismissed she went back to her cooking.

Ralph grumbled good naturedly and he winked at Dawn and Barry who were clutching each other in fear in the corner. Naomi skipped over to them and took them outside, with Ralph and Sam taking up the rear of their small group.

"Our ponyta are the finest around! We host competitions with 'em and we're the best in all of Sinnoh!" Naomi boasted to Dawn as they walked, her blue eyes sparkling.

Dawn smiled. "Are they nice? I hope so…"

"You ain't never ridden even a ponyta a'fore?" Naomi asked, shocked.

"Well, I, er… My dad got one around once for my birthday but I just sat in the saddle while somebody else held the… Um…"

"Reins?" Naomi filled in. Dawn nodded with an unsure shrug. Naomi turned to Barry. "What about you, cowboy? You ever ridden?"

Barry winced at her speech, but managed to say nothing impolite until that point. "No… And I don't want to be here so can we just get this over with as soon as possible?"

Naomi rolled her eyes. "City folk… Y'all talk so fine, but you ain't got no manners."

Dawn was going to apologize for Barry, but didn't get the chance as she caught sight of a rapidash and its rider, a beautiful woman with streaming chestnut hair.

"Who is that?" she asked in awe as the rapidash got closer.

Naomi snorted dismissively. "That's just my sister Chloe… Her and my brother Clark will get the ponyta saddled for you. Just c'mon in the barn," she instructed as she opened the doors to the red barn. She walked inside like it was nothing, but Dawn and Barry were far more cautious after catching a whiff of the inside.

The city-slicker pair stood off to the side awkwardly as Ralph and Naomi hailed a lanky but well-built young man near the other end. Sam didn't pay them any mind, instead pulling out a well-worn pair of cowboy boots from underneath the bench he was sitting on.

As he exchanged his combat boots for the different boots, Dawn and Barry steadily inched closer.

"So… … Umm…"

"What are you doing?" Barry asked bluntly.

Sam looked at them blankly. "Putting proper footwear on. Chloe will hook you up with some Dawn, don't worry. They're good people and they'll take care of you."

"What does she need to wear those boots for?"

Dawn nudged him, shocked. "Barry!"

Sam raised his eyebrows at the attitude Barry was giving him. "Not stylish enough for you, diva?"

Barry turned red. "I was just asking…"

"Ask nicer and I'll be nicer back… Anyway, you can't ride wearing shoes with rubber shoes like that. You're going to be sitting the saddle right so you'll have to put your feet in the stirrups."

"I still don't understand," Barry stated, irritated.

"Just relax, I'm getting to my point… Anyway, rubber boots and shoes get stuck in the stirrups. So if, on the off chance, the ponyta bucks, your foot would get stuck and you'd be dragged around… Usually results in some pretty serious damage to your ankle. So you'll wear the gear they give you… Not that you have a problem with that, Dawn… Just your buddy, the fashion cop."

Dawn giggled until she say the look on Barry's face. "Erm… So… Where will you be?"

"I won't leave you guys alone here, don't worry," Sam reassured her with a laugh.

Naomi came back then. "Here comes, Chloe… We'll have to find you a pair of boots and you should probably wear some better clothes…" She rummaged through a chest of stuff as Sam shrugged off his black jacket, leaving his light gray sweatshirt on. He wrapped the jacket around Cat and set his hat on her head.

"You stay here… I'll be around." Michael had stayed right on his heels the whole time and continued to follow him as he went to greet the latest addition to the party.

Dawn resisted the urge to hide behind Barry while Naomi rolled her eyes as she pulled out supplies. Chloe was a tall girl with her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. She dismounted from the saddle gracefully in her black boots. Her rapidash pawed the ground and snorted before walking into its stable on its own. They watched some exchange between her and Sam before she walked over to them.

"Hey there, kids. Sam tells me one of you really wants to learn to ride…" Dawn raised her hand shyly. Chloe smiled, the same warm smile as her mother. "Sure thing, Nao, did you find her some boots yet?"

"Yeah, got 'em. Your old pair," Naomi snapped back as she brought the boots back. Dawn cooperated fully as the two sisters even helped her put the boots on, a pair of overalls, and brought around a ponyta for her and saddled it. Barry was left to play bench-warmer with Cat.

The ponyta was a stout pokémon, not too far off the ground. Chloe set her feet in the stirrups for her. "Put the your foot here… the flat part of the sole right before the heel… There you go!"

"Okay… Now what?"

Sam reappeared out of nowhere with a big silver rapidash behind him. "Heels down, toes up," he told her with wink.

Dawn gaped at the beautiful rapidash who happily followed him into the barn. Chloe snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Hey! No distractions! Focus, sweetness!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Now… He's right. Heel down… Little more… Little… There! Perfect. Clark check her other foot, she alright?"

Clark, the middle child, apparently, looked and gave the thumbs up. Chloe nodded. "Good… Now you got to sit straight up in that saddle, no slouching. Your poor form affects the ponyta… Back straight, shoulders back!"

Dawn tried her best to do as Chloe said but ended up needing her to physically correct her anyway.

"I reckon that'll do for now… I'll lead you around for a bit before I give you the reins, sound fair?"

"Yes, ma'am… Thank you!" Dawn blurted out.

Chloe shook her head with a smile. "Don't thank me yet. And you don't need to call me 'ma'am'. My name's Chloe."

"Yes, Chloe…"

The older girl led her around in a small circle a few times, Clark calling out encouragement and advice as they passed, until Chloe decided Dawn was ready to handle the reins.

"Hold them like this… Keep a tight hold… I want to see the reins flat on her neck… What are you being so timid for?'

"I just… Isn't that close to the fire?" Dawn asked, eyeing the fiery mane nervously.

"Nah… See, pokémon won't hurt you unless they want to hurt you… This fire only burns if she wants it to. Any fire pokémon with external fire creates and maintains that fire itself and so has complete control over it. That way they can live out in the wild without burning the whole world down."

"Oh… Okay… So… Like this?" Dawn asked, clenching her hand in a fist over the reins.

Chloe shook her head. "No… Like this… Thumb to the inside along the reins… Wrap your fingers around the rein and get your pinky underneath… Yeah! There you go!"

"I took as much time as I could and that's all the further you got?" Sam commented as he led out Zora, Michael still trailing faithfully at his heels. "I thought by now she'd be riding figure-eight's around you," he added with a wink.

"Ignore him, you've done great," Chloe reassured her. "Now… Posture…"

Dawn straightened up as best as she could. "Is that good?"

"Better. Now, just look right ahead. You don't need to watch the ground in front of your feet, it's not going anywhere."

"Er, of course, but… What's this ponyta's name?"

"Whatever you want… We got too many to keep them straight."

"… Can I call her Clara?"

"Of course… Alright, well Clara will take care of her own footing. To get her going just give her a gentle kick… She doesn't take much, she's a good girl. To turn left, pull your left hand in and use your left leg to nudge her. Turn right's the same way. If you want to stop, pull back on the reins and say 'whoa'. Don't pull too hard or she'll start walking backwards… You got it?"

"Y-yeah… I think so…"

Chloe nodded and gave the newly named Clara a smack on the rump to get her going. "Alright, get going!"

Dawn panicked at first, before realizing that the easy walk was all the faster the ponyta was going to go and she knew how to stop the horse. She pulled on the reins gently. "W… Whoa… …" Clara slowed down to stop quickly and stood calmly. Dawn took a second to breathe and regain her composure. She felt a shadow engulf her and looked up at Sam. Chloe came up on her other side.

"Well, come on now, didn't come out here so you could just sit in a saddle for an hour. Let's go!"

Dawn beamed at him as it finally dawned on her that she was getting her dream. With far less fear, she nudged Clara gently and the pony resumed her calm walk. In the field were other ponyta and rapidash grazing and roaming. Sam and Chloe stuck around before deeming her worthy of being free of watch and racing each other. Even without them, she felt perfectly comfortable. The field was as beautiful as the graceful pokémon that inhabited it.

Dawn passed into a dazed state, just watching the world go by. As she approached the gentle hill up to the barn, completing her first lap around, she noticed that Sam and Chloe where there as well as Ralph and even Barry. She followed Ralph's pointing finger to the southeastern corner where three figures could barely be seen sneaking across the field. She gave Clara and extra nudge and the ponyta walked faster than she had the whole time.

"What's going on?" Dawn asked as she reached the top of the hill.

"Sam says it's Team Galactic… Probably here to steal the rapidash," Barry answered her in a low voice.

"Those ornery, no 'count varmints ain't takin' none of my rapidash, that's for sure."

"What should we do?" Chloe asked, looking at Sam, who had a deviously thoughtful look on his face.

Sam watched as they roped some of the tame rapidash and put saddles on them quickly. It was obvious they were doing it wrong even to Dawn who knew next to nothing. "I think… They're planning to leave without even saying hello… That's awfully impolite. We should go get them and drag them back. What do you think, Chloe?"

Chloe returned his grin. "If you're thinking what I figure you're thinking, then I'm in."

Sam's smile turned into a smirk as he looked down at the Galactic grunts below. "We're going to need rope…"

"Clark, get three ropes for getting runaway ponyta…"

Ralph seemed to catch on to whatever scheme Sam and Chloe had in mind and gave Clark a hefty clap on the back to get going. "Well, you heard 'em, boy, lickety split!"

Clark ran into the barn and came out with ropes with lassos at the ends. He gave it to Chloe. She looked at Sam, "I'll catch 'em, you take 'em from there?"

"Yup," Sam answered easily.

Chloe shouldered the rope with a smile. "Well, this won't be any fun if they don't get at least a little further away." Sam returned the smirk and they both went back to watching as the Galactic grunts tried to climb into their saddles.

A heavier and short grunt was having a particularly unfortunate amount of trouble with their cheap saddles. He tried again to just get his foot up high enough to get up on the saddle.

"This is ridiculous… I don't know why we're even doing this…" he grumbled.

One of the two women with him with 'snob' written all over her face sneered at him. "Because the boss said so."

"It'll make catching some other pokémon easier. Just hurry up…" the other said coldly.

"I'm trying…" he grunted. Finally he managed to get up. As he did, he heard the thundering of hooves.

"What the- AUUUGHH!" A noose seemed to wrap itself around her and then she was pulled from the saddle roughly, falling to the ground and taking the cheap and improperly set saddle with her.

"Yeeeee-haaaa!" Chloe whooped, perhaps the standard war cry of Solaceon. As she caught them, she tossed the rope into the air for Sam to catch since Zora was stronger than most rapidash. Michael pranced around nipping savagely at the fallen grunt. With one good yank, Sam had the other one on the ground, saddle and all.

With them taken care of, there was only the man left sitting in his saddle. Chloe circled him like a shark. "So… You figured you could steal from us, eh? … You still reckon that's true?"

The man shook his head. It was obvious that he was trembling. Sam came up on the other side of him and once he was close enough, gave the ponyta a light kick to the underbelly causing the pokémon jump… And throwing the man off roughly in the process. He landed with an ungainly thump on the ground. Michael ran under the pontya's belly and undid the buckle that held the saddle with a nip from his teeth.

Chloe surveyed the three grunts before her with open disgust. "Filthy pigs… I'm sure pa is going to teach you a proper lesson in manners when we get back up there." She turned her rapidash towards the barn at a trot. Sam followed, dragging the three misfits behind him and Michael making the rough ride even worse for them.

Ralph looked over the sad and sorry lot Sam dropped off in front of him, his kind features impassive. "Well… You ornery varmints are in for more than you reckoned for…"

"Ralph! Dinner is ready! I- What is going on here?"

"These folks thought they'd be stealing some of our ponyta, Mollie," Ralph explained.

Mollie looked down at them for a moment before pulling out her ladle and flailing out with it angrily. "Ain't you folks got any manners! You. Dirty. Rotten. No 'counts!" The Galactic grunts wailed and screamed as they heard crack after crack landing. Ralph watched, unsurprised by his wife's behavior while everyone else was so shocked that they couldn't even say anything.

Finally deciding that they'd had enough, Mollie replaced her ladle in her pocket and put her hands on her wide hips. "Now, y'all git inside an' wash yer hands… We gonna eat dinner now. You folks too, showin' no manners. You gonna learn now!" she ordered. The grunts got up as quickly as possible, sporting lumps and bruises all over.

"C'mon now, varmints, I'll show y'all where ta wash up," Naomi directed confidently for a seven-year old. Clark followed up behind them with Ralph. Dawn and Barry stepped aside for them, trembling in fear at Mollie now.

"You two chil'ren too, now. You gotta eat, git ta going!" Mollie commanded.

Barry was quick to find an excuse. "My best friend is challenging the Hearthome Gym and I need to get there before it's over. So sorry, bye!" he rattled off and fled, running off like scared buneary.

Dawn was obviously struggling so Sam stepped in for her after jumping down from the saddle. He wrapped an arm around Dawn's shoulders. "Miss Dawn is the Professor's assistant and she needs to get back to him as soon as possible, Mollie, so she can't stay and enjoy your excellent cooking," he said smoothly.

"Oh! Goodness, she's so young too be working like that! You should git on over to the professor, I reckon."

Dawn nodded furiously, giving Sam a truly grateful look. "Thank you, Mollie… I'm sorry. I've need to go now! See you again, sometime!" Almost as fast as Barry, she bolted.

Sam watched. "… … She forgot to change into her boots."

"That's alright. She can keep them," Mollie said, dismissively.

"Well, she'll probably want her boots and her bag… I'll take them to her."

"Do you need to leave too?"

Sam nodded. "Unfortunately, I do. Work and all, you know how it goes. I thought it might be best if I left while Naomi was distracted."

Mollie sighed. "Well, we'll miss you," she said as she hugged him. She started to walk away and looked back at Chloe. "You come too dear."

"No, I'll stay out here. I need to put everything away," Chloe responded quickly.

"You be quick, girl. I won't have you eating cold food," Mollie warned with a wave of her ladle. Chloe nodded smartly and Mollie left.

"I suddenly need help?" Sam asked her once Mollie was outside.

Chloe smiled at him as he walked Zora in. "Maybe not… But you know… I'm 18 now…" She took the bridle off Zora while he unbuckled the saddle and took it off.

"I know…" He set the saddle with the wall of others. He walked back to get the saddle blanket where Chloe was waiting for him. "I also know that your mother is fierce warrior with that ladle and your father is scarier yet when it comes to his baby girl."

Chloe frowned, letting her lower lip stick out as she grabbed the saddle blanket. "It's not his choice, it's mine. I'm not a baby anymore. I can make my own decisions."

Sam sighed and pulled out a luxury ball and recalled Zora. Cat took that as her signal to come. She leapt off the bench, his jacket flying off her like a big black cape and hat almost covering her whole face. "That may be true, but I have to leave anyway and a pretty girl like you shouldn't have any trouble finding another man."

By the time she turned around, he had his jacket on and his hat on again and Michael and Cat sitting by his heels.

"Whatever…" She turned away to leave, but he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. It was a little rough, but when he grabbed her chin kissed her on the lips he was very gentle. She blushed and he released her and stepped back.

"Now, go and grace your father's table with that beautiful face of yours," he told her with a wink. She smiled and laughed before walking outside fingering her lips. Michael walked up to him and nudged him, reminding him that they needed to go as well.

"Yes, yes… Take us to Veilstone," he said as he scooped Cat up into his arms.

* * *

Cyrus looked at the truly pathetic looking trio of grunts before him. They had lumps the size of golf balls coming out of their heads, black eyes, a fractured wrist, and really sore back between them.

"So let me get this straight… A little ol' lady in a flower apron and a ladle did all this to you."

"Y… Yes sir…"

Cyrus pulled at his eyebrows and sighed. "Get out." They fled without another word.

Jupiter snickered. "What a bunch of ninnies!"

"I don't think it's a laughing matter if our grunts can be beaten by a housewife," Saturn countered with a grimace.

"Yeah… Well… I…" Shown up, Jupiter couldn't find anything to say.

Mars interrupted. "So, uhm… Where Erys?"

Cyrus looked up with his pale blue eyes. He said nothing for a moment, when he spoke his voice was flat. "He has gone to commence negotiations with the Madame."

A timid hush fell over them. Saturn gave a reassuring gaze to Mars that went unnoticed by everyone else. Jupiter snorted. "Why? What do we need her for?"

"There's too much at stake now and unless there's been an uprising of housewives taking out our bases, the Guild has returned and we are late to our own battle. It's safe to assume they've retaken Jubilife, Oreburgh, and Eterna City. And that Lucas boy, he's causing damage as well. I want him stopped. Send the orders to our Veilstone Headquarters. I don't want anything to stand in our way there."

* * *

Aaron stood on the edge of the bridge waiting patiently for his contact to arrive. As soon as he'd started looking for Her, She called him and told him to go to Canalave City. There, one of her people would take him to her.

_This was a mistake… She could have been lying and this is just a trap… _He mused over all possible scenarios, none of them good. He felt someone pulling on the sleeve of his suit and looked down to see the platinum blonde hair and hollow blue eyes of the little boy he'd seen at her side.

The boy pulled on his sleeve again. "Come with me," he commanded and ran off, weaving through the sailors. Aaron ran after him as fast as he could but he was no match for the young boy's agility. He caught a flash of him hopping onto a ship moored at the port just beside the library. As carefully as possible, he hopped onto the ship, his landing ungainly and not at all athletic.

"Mister Kroatien… Come in," Madame greeted him from the doorway. He got up slowly and followed her inside to a remarkably fancy dining area. As he surveyed the room, he realized quickly that they were not alone and their company was not human. Looking out the window as a tall, green bird; standing beside the doorway like a guard was a red, humanoid bug pokémon and a houndoom; curled on plush cushion was a ninetails, a yellow humanoid pokémon with an necklace stood off to the side and eyed him carefully, and off into the shadows was the most malicious looking gengar he'd ever seen. He wasn't sure whether to be more or less scared of the pokémon that he even knew the names for. The Madame, not wearing black but a deep scarlet dress sat primly at one end of the table, gesturing for him to take the other chair, which he did.

"I assume your boss has reconsidered my offer…"

"You are correct…"

She shrugged and looked around. "So why isn't he here with you? I don't see him, do you?"

"I handle all negotiations with other people for Cyrus."

"Mmm… I see," she purred. Aaron watched her warily as she picked up a steak knife, wondering if she would try to use it on him. Instead, he felt the hard, almost metallic skin of the red insect's claws wrap around his throat. He swallowed but hid any outward sign of fear. She pointed the knife at him. "Here's how this is going to work, if you want my help now, you'll go get your boss and you'll bring him here at seven o'clock tomorrow. Once he is here, you will leave and just your boss and I will talk. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Madame," he replied calmly. The giant pincer left his throat and the pokémon stepped back.

"Good. Then you're dismissed."

Aaron didn't waste any time leaving.

* * *

Sam met Matt on the roof of the Veilstone Department Store after getting a distraught call from him as soon as he arrived.

"See, what'd I tell you," Matt commented sadly as he pointed towards the warehouses that had been taken over by Team Galactic. In the middle of the street they saw the unmistakable pink hair of Captain Maylene talking with a Galactic grunt. Sam watched like a hawk. The conversation wasn't agressive at all- rather it seemed friendly. That was hardly what one would expect from a one the Guild's Captains. Maylene was supposed to be in her Gym and certainly not associating with someone from the enemy side.

Sam narrowed his eyes darkly and Matt stepped back cautiously. "So… Uhh… Now what? We've got nowhere to go here, this place is completely in their hands."

Sam watched them for a moment longer before straightening up. "I'll go downstairs and see if I can catch what they're talking about. No matter what, I'll get to the bottom of this." He turned and left.

Outside he stood between the two trees on the ledge where he could hear what they were saying clearly enough.

"I can tell you that they're sending someone to come and take the place down... A guy named Sam or something... Riley said he'd come later on." _Riley... What are they planning? _He saw Maylene pull a piece of paper from her pocket and he left his wondering off and finally decided to interfere. He leapt down and threw one of his knives, ripping the paper from her hands. They were both so startled he had plenty of time to get between them and separate them, dealing a merciless punch to Maylene's face and kicking the grunt savagely in the stomach, bringing the grunt to her knees. He pulled out his dagger and a pistol from his belt, pointing the pistol at Maylene.

She looked at him, eyes wide as blood poured from her broken nose. "I…"

"If you've got something to say, you better say it now. And it better be something good."

* * *

**AN: **Starts off creepy, then gets strange, then it get's filler-chapter-y, then there's the Madame, and wraps up with traitors... This is one crazy chapter.

Aaron belongs to... **RandomGuy520**!

Big thank you to my beta and friend, **DarkAngelTorchic! **(because this chapter was a MESS and absolutely covered in typos! (and I'm not entirely sure what happened!))

Anymcwho, next week the action comes back in earnest. I do like my 'filler' chapters (they're fun and relate to the story's progression most of the time) but the last half of this story is pretty much crazy. Have fun with it.

**Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!**


	10. Chapter 10

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Maylene stared up the barrel of the pistol wide eyed and terrified. "S… Sam?"

The gun didn't waver and neither did the cold look on his face as his eyes narrowed. "Any particular reason the Captain of Veilstone has been consorting with this scum?"

"I know it looks bad but um… It's really not what it looks like," Maylene responded, not moving a muscle.

The galactic grunt removed her wig and the net that kept her hair up, loosening her waves of strawberry blonde hair, her movement drawing Sam's attention long enough to make sure she wasn't going to try anything. After she took out her contacts, she looked at him with her slate blue eyes with her hands up in surrender. "Easy there, tiger… I'm on your side."

Sam raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying it. She grimaced. "I know that's probably the worst plea ever but… Um… Yeesh. Look, me and Maylene here thought it'd probably be a good idea to infiltrate their ranks and keep tabs on things."

Sam turned to Maylene, who nodded furiously, watching the gun carefully. He lowered his weapons a bit. "If that's true, why wasn't I told about this?"

Maylene looked at him blankly. "Well… Umm… I assumed Riley would tell you."

He looked from one to the other warily. "No… He didn't and that sounds awfully convenient." The two girls exchanged desperate glances when his cell phone rang. He pulled his phone out and answered it.

"Riles… There are two women here hoping that you're calling to tell me that you've got a mole in Team Galactic."

"… … You didn't kill Olivia, did you?"

"No… But don't you think you could have told me a lot sooner?" Sam responded flatly, holstering the gun and sheathing the dagger. He offered the 'Galactic grunt', or rather, Olivia, a hand and helped her up, noting that she was really short before picking Maylene up off the ground.

"Well… Steven and I will be stopping by later on. I assume you can handle things now," Riley returned, not answering Sam's question at all before hanging up.

"You two alright?" Sam asked, eyeing them.

Maylene grimaced as she fingered her nose. "Well… It's not the first time my nose has taken a beating… But all this excitement has made me hungry."

He looked to the blonde woman. "And you?"

Olivia chuckled and rubbed her stomach ruefully. "You pack one hell of hit…"

Sam winced. "Sorry…"

"Ah, it's fine. You didn't know, but you sure reacted pretty nicely. I'd hate to be a real traitor."

"Good to know that I can scare people into staying loyal," Sam jested.

"You're very scary," she returned playfully.

Sam chuckled. Before he could continue the banter, Matt interrupted suddenly and loudly. "Ohmigosh! So I take it you guys are with us! Ohmigosh! Maylene, your nose! You're going to get blood on your shirt! Come on, we need to get you home where we can fix that!" He dragged her off, knowing where the Gym was. Sam and Olivia followed leisurely.

Once inside the Gym, Matt bandaged up Maylene's nose after she straightened it herself (much to Matt's horror). Sam and Olivia chatted easily as they waited. When they finally walked out, he sat down beside Sam on the couch and smacked him on the arm after giving him a look.

"What was that for?" Sam asked indignantly.

"For punching a girl," Matt responded easily. "Now, ladies, what's the plan for Veilstone?"

Sam sighed. "Yes… What is the plan? Is there somewhere in particular you're thinking of striking?"

Maylene nodded. "Yes… The Galactic Warehouses. They keep some important things in there and use it as a type of barracks for their surplus of grunts."

"That sounds like a really tough mission then if we're going to do this quietly," Sam pointed out.

"Well, before you interrupted us, I caught word that Cyrus has figured out that the Guild has come back. We might as well forget about being all quiet about it and show him up. Cyrus doesn't want any mistakes and is going to send more men out here. We need to act… Hopefully tonight. No matter what."

"Guess I'm game for that… You alright, Maylene?" Sam asked.

"Yep! I'm good!" she responded happily.

Sam smiled, impressed by her resilience. He looked back to Olivia. "Any security cameras or something we should know about?"

"Cameras are scarce, but they're well-placed. You'll want to get rid of them first."

Matt pulled his laptop out of his purple satchel. "I'll take care of that."

"Okay, there are four warehouses, right?"

"Yep! But only two are used for the grunts. The other two on the right here are just for these weird robots and machines. Most of them don't seem to work," Maylene explained.

"Well, they must serve some purpose so we'll destroy them anyway… Between your fighting pokémon and… Two of mine we should be fine."

Matt looked at Sam sharply. "Seriously? You're going to put two of your pokémon out?"

Sam glared at him. "Yes… Zora needs an outlet for her energy so she'll be helping out now and Michael… Needs to be able to hit something every once in a while. This should be pretty easy so I might as well let him help."

Matt put a hand on his shoulder. "Wow, Sam… That's a big step for you."

"Shut up and do what you're supposed to," Sam growled back.

Olivia broke in putting on her wig and contacts in. "That's great, boys, Back to the subject… I need to get back to the Galactic office and I'll create a distraction for you guys as an extra cover."

"Do whatever you have to… As soon as it gets dark, we'll take them down," Sam finished.

* * *

All the grunts were sound asleep, which was not really normal for them around ten o'clock. Saturn, who was usually so kind, had ordered some serious training exercises. He assured them it was for their safety and the protection of the Headquarters, but it didn't make it any less grueling.

In the darkness, one recruit, a woman, woke up suddenly when she heard a distinct _clack_. She rose from her bed timidly, tip-toeing past rows of other beds. From outside the window came a bright silver light. She approached the door and listened carefully, rubbing her eyes to clear her sleep-bleared vision and watching as the door unlocked. Her breath caught in her throat as fear gripped her. They'd all be told about a possible return of the Guild. As the door opened slowly, she staggered back. There were several figures outside, all humanoid but some of them clearly pokémon.

There was only a hand signal and the humanoid fighters walked through the door, at the lead was a small cat-like pokémon with wide baby blue eyes. It saw her and… Smiled at her. It was the last thing she saw. Maylene's fighting pokémon worked swiftly, snapping necks and breaking skulls. Michael zipped around, tearing choice victims apart as Sam and Maylene waited outside.

Sam watched them without a flicker of emotion. "Well, this has got to be the easiest run for me yet," he commented.

Maylene avoided looking for the most part. "Tell me when it's over."

Sam nodded. "Will do." They'd already taken care of one of the barracks, all that was left after this were the two storage containers for the odd robots and that was going to be easy as pie. Sam just spaced out, disturbed only when he heard Maylene's stomach growled. Sam was silent for awhile and then started laughing quietly.

Maylene stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "What is so funny?" she mouthed to him

"It's nothing, nothing… Just the timing… Does killing people make you hungry or what?"

She stared at him and then started chuckling too. "No! Hahaha! No… It's just time for a midnight snack… Well, premature midnight snack… It's not quite that late yet."

Sam shook his head, still smiling. "No, sorry. It's been a weird night…" He leaned against the wooden frame of what used to be the Guild's warehouse and waited patiently for Michael to come back. He even closed his eyes, appearing to sleep as he waited. He could hear Maylene fidgeting with either impatience or discomfort. Zora was also fidgeting inside, stamping her hooves, but she had been told to be quiet so he wasn't worried. Soon enough, Michael nudged his face, the sign that they were done.

He stood up and stretched as Maylene's fighting pokémon walked out. "Well, let's go take care of those machines now."

"Right!" Maylene followed behind him, her bare feet completely silent. Sam had already decided to not bother trying to be stealthy since Maylene's machamp made plenty of noise. Michael zoomed ahead of him and melted the locks off the doors.

"Seriously? What am I? Chopped liver?" Sam complained. Michael bared his teeth at him as a smirk. Sam opened the doors, grumbling. He motioned all the pokémon but stopped Zora. "You can't burn the whole building down, alright? Just the machines."

Zora snorted, her way of saying 'duh'. "Alright go on, go be destructive."

Maylene flinched as she heard the clanking of metal on metal and screws and bolts flying with sharp claps. She looked at Sam nervously. "They're making an awful lot of noise… Is that okay?"

Sam gestured around with a shrug. "Do you see anybody else to hear them?"

"Well, no…"

"Then we don't have a problem," Sam replied, matter-of-factly. Maylene watched the destruction inside warily as Sam went back to half sleeping, completely ignoring everything.

He opened his eyes lazily when he heard a sharp 'um!' from Maylene; her eyes were wide and she was pointing at something. Sam turned his head in time to watch the explosion after Zora lit something on fire. Michael had managed to put up force field to prevent utter chaos and keeping the resonating _boom! _to a minimum. Once the debris cleared, Sam and Maylene found themselves staring not at the back of the warehouse, but at the sea now. Half of the western wall was also gone, blown into tiny pieces. As the roof and building started to cave, Michael grabbed a hold of it and started squeaking orders at the other pokémon.

"Umm… … Do you think we should help?" Maylene asked.

"Nah… Michael's got it under control," Sam answered lazily and went back to ignoring the whole situation. He heard Maylene start to walk away and spoke up. "You'll cut your feet to ribbons if you go out there. I recommend you let the pokémon handle this." He heard her stop and, after a pause, come back.

"Are we going to get into trouble for this?" she asked timidly.

"For what?"

"Well… We just about destroyed our own warehouse," Maylene observed as her pokémon picked up and carried one of the three yellow crates inside and set in the corner of the building to hold the roof up.

Sam looked back into the warehouse and shrugged. "Nah… but we'll just leave that other one for now. Blowing up two might not go over so well."

"WAIT! Don't go back to sleep yet!" Matt yelled over the headpiece.

"What do you want? This is my lazy day."

"That's over now. Apparently a bunch of important Galactic people are gathering for a meeting in the Headquarters, Olivia says that she wants you to come in and help her take them out."

"Ugh… Fine, where?"

"Backside, she says that she'll find you."

* * *

The atmosphere of the Headquarters was relaxed, as it often was. Saturn was the boss here and he didn't enforce the 'become part of one and forget individuality' dress code. They were to wear the uniform but the wig and contacts were entirely optional. Most grunts had gone to bed, resting from the day's grueling exercises, but that was also their choice, not their orders. At the moment, only the night owls were still around and the more important figures in the Team. Among their midst was a young girl with strawberry blonde hair pulled into pigtails. Many guessed her age to be somewhere around 12. Her name was Miri, an orphan girl from Snowpoint City- or at least, that's what they thought.

With her young face and short stature, it was easy for Olivia to disguise herself as a child. As a child, it was easier to con people into trusting her. She skipped through the halls, waving at people and chirping hellos. After walking up the stairs, she whipped around the corner on a sharp turn and found herself staring at Saturn.

"Miri?"

Startled, she paused. "Er… Saturn… Um, 'scuse me…" She darted around him quickly and continued down the hall, passing the odd generators. The TV room was empty, the lazy scientist who was usually there had gone off to do something else… Probably sleep.

Wasting no time, she took the portal and arrived at the assembly room which was empty. She walked across the floor quickly and took the portal on the other side. She considered climbing up the wall and taking the portal up there, but that wouldn't really take her to where she wanted to go.

"Stick to your plan, Liv… You got this," she muttered to herself softly as she arrived in the Nap Room where she found the scientist, who was usually in the TV room, sleeping with a Poke Doll. She rolled her eyes in distaste before heading up the stairs.

It was the third floor, but there was no other way to get Sam all the way through Headquarters from the first floor so he would just have to figure it out for himself. After making sure that she was alone, she opened the second window from the stairs and leaned out. It was impossible to see in the darkness if someone was there or not, but she assumed that if Sam was there, he'd see her.

Sam had seen the window open and the girl lean out and sighed.

"Matt, do I look like I have magical super powers to you?"

"Figure something out. You always do," Matt replied, uncaring to his predicament.

He stared at the building. _I don't have my rope or grappling hook so the easy way is out. Mostly smooth surface so safe rock climbing is out. _He caught sight of a back door. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time and probably served as an emergency exit. Roughly four feet above that was a window with a reasonably sized sill. The third floor window was a greater jump above that. _Suicide rock climbing it is._

He grabbed a crate that was sitting outside and set it in front of the door. Standing on top of it, he was able to reach the gloriously wide yellow frame. With a small jump to help himself out, he managed to get himself on top of the frame. He stood slowly, making sure no one was around the window and trying to keep his balance so he wouldn't fall.

_No one's coming. But I can't stay in the window forever, I'll need to keep moving… _He eyed the space between the top of the window to the next sill. _That's a good six feet… … Alright, this should be fun. _He grabbed the sill quickly pulled himself up enough to get one foot on the sill, transitioning into getting his weight on his balanced foot while drawing a throwing knife in each hand before reaching up to slam one of the blades into the concrete building, turning it into a peg board. Working as fast as possible, despite the already taxing climb on his arms, he got his next dagger up high. He left the first one to use as a foothold and pulled out a new one.

Olivia waited impatiently. She'd expected a rope or something she'd have to hide from view from anyone who might walk by, instead there seemed to be nothing. She fidgeted, unsure what to do until she heard someone walk up the stairs. She felt a small bubble of panic rise as she expected the worst: Saturn. Instead it was just a guard. She smiled at the man pleasantly.

"Hello!"

He stared at her impassively. "Miri… You're not supposed to be up here… And why are all the windows open?"

"I just… I wanted to feel the breeze from the sea… It's so pretty up here!"

He grunted in response. "Kid, if you want to feel the breeze go outside." He stepped past her and went to close the window. She prepared to grab her hidden dagger when suddenly there was a flash of a tan hand that smacked the guards head into the side of the wall, knocking him out. Olivia grabbed the guard and moved him. When she turned around Sam was standing behind her.

She gave him a look and smacked him in the chest as she walked past him to go to the portal on the other side of the hallway. "About time you showed up. What took you so long?"

Sam followed her grumbling. She turned to look at him. "What was that?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it," he responded flatly. She shrugged and took the far portal. They arrived in a very open room with a steel floor. She grabbed Sam quickly and hid him and herself behind a machine, slowly and carefully she crept closer to the room. There were five people inside the dark room as a projector flashed a picture of Cyrus on the wall for what was obviously a meeting.

Sam looked at Olivia. Once Cyrus started talking again she leaned over and whispered quietly in his ear to avoid being heard by the wrong people. "They're five mercenaries working for Cyrus… They're pretty important to the cause from what I know."

Sam nodded to let her know he'd heard before nudging Olivia closer into the shadows as he tried to get a closer look at their faces. All of them wore Galactic uniforms, but unlike the slender and generally un-athletic grunts he'd seen, these people were well built. They were fighters. He leaned over and whispered back in Olivia's ear. "And just what do you expect me to do?"

"Kill them," she returned.

"Have you seen those guys? There's five of them and only one of me!"

"I'll help as soon as I can get one of their weapons, we'll be fine!"

Sam scowled and looked back at them, catching sight of a man at least twice his size. "You must think I have some really magical special powers."

"Stop being a baby and do what you're supposed to," Olivia ordered.

Sam sighed again and waited till Cyrus wasn't there anymore knowing that a special appearance in front of the boss was not a good idea. Matt hadn't said a word so he hadn't been able to screw with security cameras. He pulled up his hood, there hadn't been any security cameras on the way, but there was one in this room and he needed to keep his face hidden.

The lights came back on as Cyrus disappeared. Sam exhaled slowly, his hand over the handle of his dagger. Olivia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before he got up.

"For good luck," she whispered quickly with a wink.

As soon as he stepped out from behind the wall, a tall, muscular woman spotted him and all hell broke loose. Sam grabbed the one nearest to him, a man, by the chin and flipped him over, not knowing what damage was caused and unable to spare enough time to find out. The woman who spotted him jumped up onto the table and was running towards him as the other one lunged. Sam sidestepped the man, smacking his face into the table roughly and causing the woman to trip on him, but leaving his own back exposed.

Another man behind him grabbed him and Sam caught brief sight of the saw-blade of a dagger. He brought his elbow around, knocking him in the face. The hold on him weakened and Sam turned around and grabbed his opponent and rammed his knee into this stomach before letting him go. The first man he'd grabbed was groaning on the floor, but he wasn't getting up.

That just left him to face a large and imposing woman and three other formidable opponents, including the man twice his size. As he turned to face them, he barely saw the boot before it hit him dead on in the chest as the woman used her companion as a launching horse. Sam hit the ground and rolled immediately, avoiding a crushing boot from the hulk among them.

As soon as he got up, the woman brought her fist down, aiming for his shoulder for a dead arm. He caught her fist quickly and twisted it, getting a grunt of pain before he was forced to let go or lose his hand to the dagger with the serrated edge. The woman stepped back out of the fight momentarily. Sam realized that there were now two that weren't getting up.

Counting his fallen opponents was a costly mistake. The hulk didn't just grab him; he picked him up and then threw him on the ground with incredible force. His companion, who Sam had originally mistaken for a man, pounced on him immediately, holding the blade to his throat.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

Sam turned the tables on her quickly, grabbing the dagger and pushing her back forcefully. As she fell back, he turned her wrist and forced her to let go and when she did, he threw the ungainly weapon. The dagger buried itself all the way up to the hilt in her neck. The hulk was quick to react and lunged to grab him again. Sam rolled quickly and managed to escape him. The woman from before was behind him however and she, like any experience fighter, used the distraction to get him in a headlock, her arm and the heavily corded muscles that made it closing in on his neck. Sam struggled to escape but his climb up the building had left his arms tired and too weak to fight a stronger opponent and the headlock kept getting tighter as she started pushing to the ground, keeping her head back away from him as a defense against the classic counter headbutt. The hulk stood by, ready to help if needed, not paying any mind to the young girl who'd had finally decided to join the fight using the earlier woman's dagger.

In one last desperate attempt, he dropped to the floor quickly, taking his attacker down with him. The sudden movement surprised her enough that the headlock loosened. Sam wriggled away from her quickly and then rolled over to kick her as hard as he could in the face. Behind him, he heard the huge man grunt and then the ground-shaking _thud_ as he fell.

Using the dagger that she'd picked up, Olivia slit the throats of all the mercenary, just to be sure, before helping Sam up.

"So maybe that could have gone better," she commented wryly as Sam coughed several times, rubbing his bruised neck.

"Well done… … Well, done indeed," Cyrus commented.

Sam and Olivia both froze and stared at each other with wide eyes, a mutual 'oh shit.'

"Those were some of my best men… I figured the Guild had returned- I suppose now it's official… … And a traitor among my own? I'm hardly surprised... Not that it matters," Cyrus commented smugly.

Sam grabbed her arm and started to pull her away. "Wait- I want you to relay this message to your boss…"

Sam paused, pushing Olivia out in front of him though. Cyrus nodded curtly. "Tell him that it's not just me he's fighting anymore… A… Mutual friend of ours is joining the war and she will be on _my _side. That's all. I'll let you go, for now, since I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to stop you, but realize that you will answer for your interference eventually."

Sam turned and pushed a protesting Olivia in front of him as Cyrus disappeared from the screen. At the window he'd come in at, Michael was waiting for him holding the knives he'd left stuck in the walls.

"What are you-" Olivia started before Sam pushed her out the window. She shrieked, but Michael caught her in his deft hands as a hariyama. Sam climbed out of the window and slid down the wall and landed in the pile of trash bags stacked up beside the building. Sam didn't waste any time, he didn't want to be around when Cyrus changed his mind about letting them go. He grabbed Olivia headed for the Warehouses to make sure Maylene had already left.

_Whoever those people were, there's more like them._

* * *

Steven and Riley arrived in Maylene's to find that their endeavor here had not gone entirely to plan. Matt sat off to the side, claiming to be an innocent party while Maylene, Sam, and Olivia sat on the couch of guilt. Steven sat off to the side quietly, but fidgeting as he wanted to go make sure Sam was alright after seeing the heavy bruising on his neck. Riley paced in front of them, hands clasped behind his back.

"So… You started this off attacking Maylene and Olivia under the assumption that they were traitors. Is that right?" he started, looking at Maylene's nose before staring at Sam.

"That was _your _fault. You should have told me when I talked to you yesterday," Sam defended, his voice scratchy.

Riley flinched but said nothing further on the subject. "And then, you blew one of our warehouses half to hell because…?"

Sam cleared his throat to talk, but Maylene tried instead. "We, um, it was his rapidash. The building was full of weird machines that we needed to get rid of. Something caught fire and… Exploded. It was an accident," she stated, very meekly.

"An accident that could have been disastrous… And then what? What happened to you?" Riley asked, looking at Sam, who glared right back at him.

Olivia spoke up instead. "Well, you see, I had caught wind of some pretty special new members to Team Galactic and knew that we had to get rid of them as soon as possible so I got Sam and told him to… take care of them."

"And how did that go?" Riley asked sarcastically.

"Shi-"

"Okay, look-" Sam interrupted, though having to cough every few words, "there were five of them. Five. Against me. Now, I know you two have your little… Security bubble and you seem to all think I'm invincible and can just magically solve all your problems. Welcome to the reality of things- things don't always go according to plan. This could have been a lot worse. So you can just quit your bitching."

Riley scowled and then smiled as he chuckled. "Alright, alright…"

"No, I want to hear you say it."

"Fine… You're right. Good job… On what little we accomplished. Headquarters will have to wait, I presume?" Sam nodded in response. "Well… Then I-"

"Wait-" Steven interrupted. "Sam, you completely avoided the 'what happened to you' question. You might be able to pull off the side-step with Riley, but you forgot that I know all your tricks."

Matt started laughing and Sam scowled, obviously caught.

Olivia smirked deviously. "He got head-locked and body slammed by a big guy." Sam punched her in the arm, as Riley and Steven both gaped and Matt looked up at him sharply.

"What a minute… What?"

"Back to invincibility thing…" Sam stated with a bored sigh.

"But! Ohmigosh…" Matt started, very concerned now.

Steven cut him off. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Steven rolled his eyes. "Of course you are… … How big was the other guy?"

Sam paused. "… … Twice my size. BIG guy."

Steven shook his head in disapproval, but Riley shrugged. "Well, he's dead now, right?"

"Yeah… But it's not the last of them. There's got to be a lot more of guys like him," Olivia answered. "He also… Said something about teaming up with some old time enemy of yours…? Some woman, but he didn't say who."

Steven and Sam exchanged knowing glances. "I saw that," Riley stated, obviously irritated. "What are you two hiding from me now?"

"Nothing… Just speculation," Steven replied, Sam completely ignored Riley.

"You know… You guys can be really irritating sometimes," Riley commented, glaring at them both in turn.

* * *

As the sun rose, it bathed the city of Veilstone in a golden light, making the normally cold looking city seem a bit warmer even after the blood-soaked events of the night. Upon waking up, Sam realized he still had Dawn's boots and her bag. Since Olivia was up, she offered to go with him to find the professor, leaving the still sleeping Maylene and Matt behind. Now, at six O'clock in the morning, there wasn't much to do, so they had just opted wander around, stopping now on the roof of the Department Store.

"So… You feeling better this morning?" Olivia asked him teasingly, adjusting her dark gray shirt.

"Well… I've certainly felt better," Sam answered, "but I've been a hell of a lot worse too. I won't complain."

"Ah… Well at least you aren't a cripple anymore. And you don't sound as funny anymore," she commented, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh, sure… Tease all you want, but I blame you for all that," Sam returned, nudging her with his elbow.

"ME? How was any of that _my _fault?" she retorted indignantly, elbowing him back harder.

"It was _your _idea. 'Two against five' turned into me against five. Plus that ridiculous three-story deal… If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to get me killed."

She glared at him and pushed him, though smiling. "I helped…"

"At the end," he pointed out.

"And if I hadn't you might have died, so you should be thanking me," she argued.

"I could have managed… You forget I have superpowers," he joked with a smirk.

She laughed. "You're ridiculous. I never said you were any kind of special magical superhero."

"No… You just expected me to fly up to the third floor."

She made a face at him. "You managed anyway… Actually… How did you get up there? I never saw a rope or anything."

Sam smirked. "Magic. I'm a magician. I can't reveal my secrets."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Right…" As another lock of hair came loose from her ponytail, she sighed and pulled it out to quickly redo it. "You know… If you're not going to tell me that, then I think you owe me something."

Sam gave her a suspicious look. "Really?"

"Yeah…"

Sam shrugged. "Last time a girl told me that, I was scammed out of 500 bucks… Not sure I want to play this game again. And besides, I'm pretty sure I got the short of the deal last night. You definitely owe me." Olivia frowned and Sam smiled. "But…You can certainly ask me anything you want."

"Alright… Without my little job as Miri of the Galactic bunch, I'm going to be terribly bored… I was wondering if you… Might be planning some trouble around here that I could get in on?"

Sam leaned closer to her with a smile. "I'm always planning something… In fact, I was considering the Hotel Grand Lake. I could use someone like you there to tag team with me."

She leaned closer to him as well, smirking back at him. "Split the profits evenly?"

"I was thinking a… 70:30 split," he started.

"I am not taking 30 percent," she stated seriously.

"With you taking the 70 percent," he finished.

She paused and gave him a strange look. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? That's scary generous of you."

He chuckled. "I'm perfectly fine… I'm just looking to pick up some extra cash, nothing too major. It was really just for kicks."

"Well, I'm definitely in… Meet you there…?"

Sam nodded. "At 3 this afternoon. I'll find you."

"It's a date then," she said as she shook his hand. He grinned at her and pulled her closer for a gentle hug, she barely came up to his shoulders.

As he looked down at the street, he caught sight of a strangely dressed man. _That outfit… Is that Crasher Wake?_

* * *

Cyrus looked down at the boat moored in front of him casually. Instead of his Team Galactic's uniform, he wore simple khakis and long sleeve dark gray shirt. He eyed Aaron beside him.

"It's almost seven… This is the ship?"

"Yes, sir… I can't go in with you. She asked for you… Alone."

Cyrus nodded curtly. "You're dismissed. Go back to our base. I'll be there as soon as this is over." Aaron turned and left him dutifully. Cyrus eyed the deck of the ship below him impassively before vaulting over the railing. He landed on the deck easily. Perfectly calm, he walked into the cabin across the deck the white door was wide open.

Inside was a perfectly laid table with only two seats. Various pokémon basked in the shadows, all pokémon he recognized; ninetails, houndoom, scizor, hypno, xatu, and gengar. But there was one that he didn't recognize at all. A ghostly pokémon with big red eyes and what appeared to be a golden mask attached to its tail. Beside it was the woman herself, dressed not in a black dress, but a white suit and her black hair pulled up in bun for once.

"You asked for me… Here I am," he growled from the door.

She turned to gaze at him, holding a bouquet of white flowers close to her chest. "Hello, dear… How punctual of you… I like that."

Cyrus scowled, but her smile at him didn't waver for a second. "Sit… Let's be civil. And by civil, I mean stop frowning at me all the time. You'll have terrible wrinkles when you're old."

Cyrus rolled his eyes and sat down, folding his hands on the table. She set the bouquet in the vase in front of him, a card hanging off the side. The card was opened to him, but he couldn't see the name, just a 'G'.

As she sat down, she looked at him. "Well… You're not scowling. I'll take that as improvement," she commented dryly.

Cryus immediately glared at her. "What is it that you want?"

"Obviously you and I are here to negotiate our terms of business. You seemed to doubt my intentions… So I thought I would share more with you. I have not only information, but my investments run deep. I have any businessman that can be bought by the balls and I have more than enough money for you, me, and our other friends to retire to our own private islands and live in our own castles taken care of by a thousand hired servants for the rest of our lives."

Cyrus leaned back. "Money isn't my only concern."

"But it is a concern. And money can buy a lot of things. With my help, I can make you and every single one of your men disappear like they never existed. Not even the Guild will be able to find you."

"That sounds fantastic… But I know that there is a catch," Cyrus returned evenly.

She chuckled, "My dear, there is always a price to be paid. The catch is this: you give up your title as head of Team Galactic and you work with me as an equal and at times as my underling. Out of the three of us you are the youngest, so you will show respect to your elders."

Cyrus looked around the room. "I only see the two of us," he stated dryly.

She smiled pleasantly. "You will meet him as soon as our business here is completed."

They eyed each other, their gazes unwavering. Cyrus sighed finally. "Should I even agree with you… What is _your _plan?"

"The first steps are simple… You cease to exist. Let the Guild have what they want. You're waging this war far too openly and it needs to stop. When it does, Team Galactic will fall in the eyes of the public, but in the underworld… You will rise," she said, simply.

"I don't want to just rule the underworld," Cyrus began, "I want to rule the regions… All of them. The legendary pokémon will give me that."

Madame shook her head slowly. "Tut, tut, dearie… I admire your youth and determination, but your idea is silly." She reached out and clasped his hand, leaning forward over the table. "You see, the thing about powerful pokémon is… They can't be controlled. They aren't like people who can be manipulated and lied to. They'll destroy this world and they won't rebuild it in your image, if they rebuild it at all."

Cyrus scowled. "So you're saying it's impossible."

"I'm telling you to start small… Taking the underworld may sound petty and it takes time, but I assure you from experience, once accomplished and organized, there's no greater power in the world."

"And the Guild controls that," Cyrus pointed out.

"No… The Guild is made of rather… Honorable people. They're a higher breed of criminal… They may have thieves and assassins but they are mainly politicians and conmen, capable of fooling almost anyone into whatever they want. And as such, they are able to control the 'good people' through acts of charity goodness. We can't compete on their field without that… So we have to take the other field- assassins, thugs, murderers… The whole brigade."

"And you can do that?" he asked, skeptically.

"Dear, I've already started. Should you decide to swallow your pride, you will meet our nine new friends."

"And the other man?"

"Once we are settled here, we will go to him," she replied, leaning back in her chair now, her crimson gaze flickering to the white flowers.

"Tell you what… _Madame…_ You've already helped… But I will do this my own way."

"You'll fail," she warned.

"I still want to try," Cyrus replied.

Her red eyes narrowed for a moment, but Cyrus didn't even flinch. Finally she folded her arms across her chest. "Fine… Tell you what- I'll still work with you. You just leave me in charge of your private base and I'll let you do whatever you want with anything and everybody outside."

Cyrus scowled distrustfully. She giggled, sounding incredibly young. "Oh, don't make that face. I won't mess with any of your men. I will simply make sure nothing happens while you're out flaunting your 'power' in front of the Guild. I will ensure that when you fail, you do not destroy your entire organization with it. My role will to be your guardian- I won't mess with anything other than security."

"And I suppose we'll consider it a fail-safe…" he commented as he stood.

She stood up as well and sleazed up to him easily. "Exactly… Do we have a deal, my dear?"

Cyrus stared at her gloved hand before clasping his own over it and shook her hand, sealing the agreement. "Fine… I'll tell you where to find our base."

* * *

**AN: **Woot! Alrighty, so I've been a total pile with my author's notes... I'm sorry- I haven't been very entertaining...

Any-mc whoozles, Olivia is an OC belonging to... **DarkAngelTorchic!** So, cudos to her (as always) Olivia was a perfect addition that made the Veilstone City scene so much more exciting. She will be getting her second appearance in the next chapter for the Hotel Grand Lake. Don't take that as even remote favoritism because it's not. Olivia's second appearance is not nearly as exciting as everyone else's, but that's just how it worked out. She is the perfect thief to go consorting about with Sam at Hotel Grand Lake.

And a super shout out to **DarkAngelTorchic **for also being my beta (and friend)

**I am no longer accepting OC's for the Sinnoh arc!**  
This is because there is no more room. You might be thinking "wah! But it's only chapter 10!" Well, yes, but you need to understand that I have already finished writing GSTA: Sinnoh so I know for a fact that I don't have anywhere for another OC.  
So if you want to submit an OC, keep Unova in mind for it. I have more information regarding this on my profile if you're interested.

And hey there, hi there- if you need someone to draw you a cover for your fan fiction- feel free to ask me! Or if you want your characters of your fan fic drawn, advice on your fic, or whatever.

**Thank you for reading!**

Because I'd be spouting nonsense off at no one other wise!


	11. Chapter 11

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

The greatest location for rich and important people in Sinnoh was, without a doubt, the Valor Lakefront. There wasn't a day on the calendar when the white stone tiles weren't covered up by the soles of dress shoes and heels. Normally, the place would have also been flooded with police officers to protect the rich citizens, but with the recent outbreak of Team Galactic, the police force had other priorities, leaving the flock of sheep to the wolves.

No one paid any mind to the young woman sitting at the pool, braiding a few strands of her strawberry blonde hair. The breeze was soft, but had enough force to push along a small wad of paper. It bounced along the stones and hit her thigh. She picked it up, looking around before opening it and smiling. Casually, she stood and threw the paper away before walking down the stairs to the small rock garden. Barely hiding her confusion, she stood there alone.

"Good afternoon, miss."

Olivia turned around and standing at the top of the staircase was Sam. He took his hat off and tossed it to her as he walked down the stairs.

She caught that hat and put it on as she smiled at him. "I was a little worried you wouldn't show… I heard Wake was saying that Pastoria was in trouble."

"Well, they don't need me right now. Matt's messing with the security cameras and all that so I have a good hour or two," Sam explained easily as he got closer.

"Mmm, how much do you think we can steal in two hours?" she asked as he took his hat back.

"Have you seen the gems these people are wearing? You can pawn those babies off for thousands each… I'd say a million easily."

"And I get seventy percent so-"

"Seventy grand in your pocket at the very least."

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" She grabbed his arm and they walked back up the stairs and to the main street. Olivia started to turn to go to the Seven Stars restaurant, but Sam kept walking to the other side. Mystified, she followed.

As she came up beside him, he tossed a gemstone up in the air. He caught it in his open palm. She leaned closer to look at it, her eyes widening. "That's Imperial Topaz!" she whispered excitedly. "Where did you get that?"

He pretended to appear completely casual. "Do you see the man in the teal suit with the really long silver hair? He's got two girls hanging off his arms, both of them blonde."

"Yeah I see him… He's walking into the restaurant," Olivia commented.

"He has gems in his hair as decorations and jewels practically hanging off him… His girls are flaunting more than their share of wealth. He's a walking gold mine. Actually, if I remember correctly, he practically owns the Underground mines. He has his miners down their all day, collecting for him," he told her with a smirk as he examined the jewel.

"I take it he's wearing a lot of expensive gems then," she assumed, a smirk coming to her face."

"One of his girls is wearing a 3 carat blue garnet necklace that I think would look _much _better on you," he told her with sly wink.

She laughed. "I think you're right… But how do we convince him to give it to me?"

"Well… It's more than a little round-about but first things first, we need to find you a suitable dress… See any here that you like?"

Olivia looked around quickly. "No… But I think those hotel suites should have some pretty nice closets."

Sam sized up the building quickly. _All the upper floors have balconies with glass doors… Which would be a pretty simple break-in, but it would be impossible to do that unnoticed. … _

"Well, let's go get a room then," he told her, offering his arm.

"Oh my, we aren't even a few minutes into our date," she teased.

Sam shrugged and grinned at her. "Not to say that I wouldn't, but do hope you find beating up the concierge just as exciting."

She smiled and elbowed him roughly as he held the door open for her. The concierge there straightened up immediately when he say them.

"Good afternoon! How may I help you today?" he asked dutifully cheerful.

"Whatever room you've got open is fine," Sam replied, cutting right to the chase, "And this should cover the costs."

The concierge was obviously excited as Sam pretended to put something on the counter. The man was so confused by the lack of money or anything on the counter he didn't even react. Sam grabbed his head and slammed it into the counter, knocking him out.

"Nice," Olivia commented with a short laugh as Sam slid over the counter easily.

When they'd walked in, they had both failed to see the woman standing in the back. "Oooh!" They both looked at each other alarmed at hearing the squeal of another person with them in the otherwise empty lobby.

"That was _soo _romantic!" she chirped, clasping her hands together over her chest.

Realizing that she wasn't really a threat, they both ignored her. Sam searched the desk and found the manager's card. He handed it to Olivia. "You can either search the rooms or there's a laundry room in the basement with most of the hotel rooms that should be easiest to access."

"Aren't you coming with me?" she asked as she took the key.

"Nope. Someone has to stay here and run the door for you," he responded with sigh. He put his hand on the lever near the desk and nodded at the golden tile in the center. "So, where you heading? Up or down?"

"Down."

Sam mock saluted her and pulled the lever down. Air escaped the tile in a short blast before the tile dropped down like an elevator. Sam leaned against the desk nonchalantly and watched the unconscious concierge carefully. He turned his back to the romantic ace trainer, which was a little bit of a mistake. When he turned back around, she was approaching him with a flirtatious smile.

"Hi… My name's Anne Hart. I've been here for a while… … It's really romantic here," she said, slowly leaning closer to Sam, who continuously leaned away from her. "I don't have enough money for a room here so I've been sleeping in the lobby… Was that your girlfriend?"

"Yes!" Sam declared quickly, trying not to sound too excited to get her away from him. "So, you know, not available. Sorry… Maybe some other time," he lied.

Instead she leaned forward, over the counter now. "It's okay, I have a boyfriend… His name is name is Jeromy Barrera… He was from Solaceon and he said he had a rapidash. He told me to meet him here for a date. He hasn't shown up, but I've waited for him for two months."

Sam couldn't lean any further back and actually ended up taking a step back. "You know… Call it intuition, but I don't think he's coming," Sam tried, feeling more than a little cornered.

She leaned over the counter as if to climb on top of it and she eyed him seriously. "My fantasy is for a knight on a pokémon to sweep me away for a honeymoon here…"

"I'm not a knight and I don't fit that description at all," Sam stated, incredibly serious. She sighed and went back to standing on the other side of the room.

Olivia, having found a long, blue formal dress to hide her black boots along with a bracelet of pearls in one room and a nice sized purse that she could stow her shirt and favorite pair of black jeans in, finally returned to the lobby to find Sam eyeing the woman from earlier suspiciously and she sat on the other side of the room with an air of disappointment.

"What happened here?" she asked quietly as Sam put the master key back where he'd found it.

"That chick is love crazy… And desperate like you wouldn't believe," Sam responded, eyeing the woman distrustfully as he jumped over the counter and escorted Liv outside. He paused just a moment once the door closed just to make sure Anne Hart was going to follow him.

"What are you-"

"Nothing. It's fine… And by the way, that dress looks perfect on you," he complimented with a wink and slipped his arm around her.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Oh, you are _so_ charming when you want to change the subject… But thank you. Now what's the next step in your master plan?"

Sam kissed her on the cheek and then pulled away. "To leave you to pay off the only waitress into working for me for a few minutes. Just wait a moment."

Olivia frowned as he disappeared into the crowd and reappeared beside the waitress taking out the trash. She crossed her arms as the conversation was obviously rather friendly. One man tried to approach her and left after seeing the less than amused look on her face. She watched as Sam pointed through the window of the restaurant and the waitress nodded cheerfully. With the deal settled, whatever it was, they parted, the waitress waving sweetly at him.

Sam returned to her side and sighed after seeing the suspicious look on her face. "Well, weren't you just all kinds of approachable," she commented dryly.

"Oh, come on… Don't be like that. It was harmless flirting to get her to do a simple thing for me."

"Mmm… Not in front of me."

"Okay, let's be fair… Do you really think I'd leave you for a plain Jane like her?" Sam asked sarcastically.

Olivia cracked a smile. "I'm sure you didn't call her a 'plain Jane'."

"Of course not. That's not very tactful," Sam replied dismissively. He held out his hand and she took it after a pause.

"It's not… So what did you ask her to do?"

"Suffice it to say, I'm probably going to get her fired but she doesn't want to work there anymore anyway so that's pretty much the plan. You have your ways of getting what you want from people… I have mine."

"Fair enough, I suppose," Olivia conceded. "But- I want eighty percent now."

Sam looked at her sharply. "Eighty?"

"Yes… Eighty."

"Why?"

Olivia bumped him with her hip and winked at him. "I have to do something to keep you in line so you know better than to cheat on me."

Sam frowned. When they reached Seven Stars, he grabbed her pressed her against the wall. "How about this… We say that I have made a very serious mental note about that whole 'no cheating or side flirting' and we stay with the original plan."

"Or we make this a little more fun with a little bet… I'm going to get that necklace… If you can steal it from me, we'll stick with your plan. If I walk out of the restaurant and I'm still wearing it- I get eighty percent," she bargained with a confident smirk.

Sam paused before returning the smirk. "… Deal."

"Hey… Where are you going? Aren't you going to tell what the plan is?" she asked, somewhat alarmed when he just walked to the door of the fancy establishment.

"Nope. Just trust me, you'll catch on pretty quickly. Wait a moment before you walk in though," he replied, with a shrug. He snagged the wallet from the back pocket of some rich man before walking in himself. Olivia decided to wait patiently for a minute, forcing herself to count to sixty slowly. At barely thirty she heard a screeching yelp and a huge clamor inside. Not long after that, the woman with the necklace they were after stormed out, her makeup running down her now wet face.

"Step aside!" she ordered, angrily. Olivia did as she was asked quickly, letting the woman pass to the bathrooms that were upstairs. Realizing that meant there was an open seat for her, Olivia walked inside the restaurant and spotted the gaudy rich man quickly.

_His hair really is bedazzled… _she mused slipping into the now open seat beside him.

"Why hello beautiful," he greeted with a smile as greasy as his hair.

Olivia resisted the urge to smack him and smiled pleasantly, spotting Sam not too far away talking to an artist. "Hey… Such a beautiful man like yourself should have more than just one girl," she complimented, mentally smacking herself.

He chuckled. "Oh, my dear, you're just in time… You know, you're just what I need to show off a new and beautiful stone of mine."

The green eyes of the blonde on the other side of the table widened. "Oh, but what about Destiny!" she quipped. She was disgustingly young woman for an older man like him.

"That girl is hopeless… Not fit to wear my diamonds. When she comes back, I'll give it to you, dear," he assured her with a pat on her hand. Olivia had to hold back the urge to break his hand, but she endured with a cheerful air and well-placed giggles. She found out the other girl's 'name' was Star and that the rich man's name was Alexander. When Destiny came back inside and saw Olivia sitting there, Olivia could already see the fireworks about to go off. She felt a mild pang of satisfaction just knowing that she was going to steal from the oily bastard.

"Umm… What are you doing?" Destiny growled at her.

"Hand over your necklace, Destiny. You're no longer needed," Alexander told her harshly. Even though Destiny was obviously loath to part with it, there was apparently no stealing from Alexander Giarob VI. She took the necklace off and flung it at Olivia in foul temper before turning on her high heels and storming from the restaurant.

"Put it on, dear," Alexander ordered smugly.

Olivia picked it up, but it was taken from her hands. "Let me help you with that," she heard someone say. Feeling the weight of the necklace around her neck, Olivia didn't waste anytime trying to get away from the greasy bastard who was staring at her like creepily.

"Oh! Ouch! My hair's stuck in the clasp!" she lied, flinging her arm out and knocking over the bottle of wine, spilling it on herself. She gasped and made a show of getting her hair out of the clasp of the necklace before getting up. "I'll go clean up…"she lied quickly, running out of the restaurant, pretending to be embarrassed.

Outside she spotted Sam pretty easily. She strode up to him confidently. "Looks like I get my eighty percent," she announced, laying a hand on the necklace.

Sam eyed the necklace and smirked before pulling out the real 3 carat blue garnet necklace from his pocket. "Looks like I still get my measly thirty percent."

Olivia looked down at the necklace, it was the first time she'd looked at it since someone helped her with it and was not only fake, but a toy necklace for a child. She looked at him wide-eyed. "How… When did you?"

"I knew that you'd be pretty quick to get out of there so I figured I could probably pass off a cheap necklace pretty easily since no one would get enough time to look at it. I spoke to that artist guy. Turns out he keeps some expensive-looking fake jewelry around for his drawings. I paid him thirty bucks: ten for the necklace, ten to stand behind you and say 'let me help you with that' so you wouldn't know it was me, and another ten as compensation for interrupting his date," Sam explained with a smirk.

Olivia scowled at first, realizing that she had completely fallen for his plan and then smiled. "I'll admit… That was pretty clever… You win."

"Thank you, now… You can have this back," he said as he clasped the necklace around her neck carefully. "There… Worth over a million dollars… Just for you. How's that for a under an hour?" he asked, with a wink as he left one hand on the nape of her neck and pulled her closer.

"I think that'll be enough for today… But what are we supposed to do for the next hour of your free time?" she asked with a tiny smile.

He started to say something when he suddenly looked past her with a completely shocked expression, she turned around and saw what had completely distracted him.

"Is that… Riley?"

"Yes… Yes it is," Sam answered, a devious smirk spreading across his face.

Olivia looked at the woman holding his hand. "Who's she?"

"Cheryl… His girlfriend… … I have to mess with him."

"Sam! He's our boss and he's on a date- leave him be!"

Sam wrinkled his nose. "You're no fun… I won't actually talk to him. It's all in good fun."

Olivia looked at him suspiciously. "Is this going to reflect badly on me?"

"No."

"Then go for it," she told him, clapping him on the shoulder.

Sam grinned and pulled out an envelope from his pockets and a brochure from the hotel. He opened the brochure to the page talking about the peacefulness of the area and the many honeymoons held there and slid it into the envelope. He took out a pencil and wrote something quickly on the inside flap before sealing it. As a boy walked past Sam stuck the letter in front of his face.

"Want to make twenty easy bucks, kid?"

The boy looked him and shrugged. "Sure?"

"Take this letter, go in Seven Stars… There's a man in a blue suit there with a lady with really long green hair… Give the letter to the guy… If he asks who gave it to you, just say 'your friend' and then just walk away. Got it?"

"Sure, man. Whatever," the boy said, stuffing the money in his pocket as he took the card. He ran off to the Seven Stars.

"What did you write in the card?" Olivia asked as she took his hand.

Sam smiled. "'Just in case you needed advice'." Olivia shook her head, trying very hard not to smile. "He'll probably know it was me."

"I'm amazed you aren't staying to watch his reaction," she observed.

Sam laughed as he slipped his arm around her shoulders. "Oh, trust me, I'll hear all about it later." They descended the steps to leave through the hotel when their path was suddenly blocked by Shannon.

"Who is that woman and why does she look so pissed off?" Olivia whispered to Sam.

"Shannon? Eeh… A very clingy one-night stand… I hate it when girls are clingy." Olivia gave him a strange look and shook her head slightly in disbelief.

"Sam! Who is she?" Shannon demanded, all but physically accosting them.

"Shannon, this is Olivia; Liv, this is Shannon. Now that we've all met each other, let's say goodbye and move on," Sam said, completely ignoring the fact that Shannon was angry.

"What the hell are you doing with her? I thought we-"

Sam raised an eyebrow at her sarcastically. "Maybe it isn't clear… So let me say this as nicely as possible: You've been replaced."

"By this little girl?!" Shannon exclaimed bitterly, gesturing at Olivia. "You'd replace _me _with her?!"

Sam and Olivia exchanged glances. "Obviously I would because I have. Now if you don't mind, I need to go." He walked past her coldly, not even sparing her a passing glance and Olivia smirked and winked at Shannon as she walked past.

"Go and do what? Screw your fellow Guild bitch?" Shannon retorted, smugly.

Sam stopped in his tracks and turned around sharply. "_Guild bitch_? Huh, that's funny… Especially since you're not supposed to know about that and I finally have an excuse to kill you."

"Oh, allow me," Olivia interrupted. She pulled out one of the throwing knives he'd been keeping in the pocket of his jeans and threw it expertly.

Sam watched Shannon crumple to the ground, the blade sticking out of her chest before looking at Olivia. "How did you know that was there?"

Olivia bumped him with her hip like she had earlier in response before retrieving the knife and handing it to him. "One-night-stand, eh? What'd she do to deserve that?"

"What do you mean? In the first place or afterwards?"

"What made you decide to just dump her," Olivia clarified sarcastically.

"I already told you, I hate it when girls are clingy."

Olivia nodded slowly, trying to maintain a straight face. "Mmm… And how do you feel about me?"

Sam pulled her even closer to him with a wink. "You… Are annoyingly attractive."

"Good."

* * *

Sam returned to Pastoria with Olivia, who had agreed to stay with him for the moment. Since Pastoria had the least prospect of money and smelled of swamp water, most thieves didn't pay the city any attention. If they went to the Lake Valor Lakefront, they either spent the night at the Hotel Grand Lake or went to Veilstone City. Because of that, the only place for Sam and Matt to stay was with Crasher Wake in his penthouse above his gym.

Matt was still working on his computer when Sam returned with Olivia. Cat and Michael were napping on the chair beside him, Michael looked at him and acknowleded his return.

"Where's Wake?" Sam asked, looking around and not seeing or hearing the big man anywhere.

Matt waved his hand dismissively. "He's out and about in the city. I don't really care as long as he's not here."

Sam shrugged and flopped on the couch, Olivia curled up beside him.

"So how was your little date with Olivia? I thought you'd still be at the Lake," Matt commented, unaware that Olivia was even in the room.

"Ah, stole 3 carat blue garnet… Worth over 4 million and called it quits. Riley was there with Cheryl on a date."

"They're so cute together," Matt added. "Did you tease him?"

"Of course! Anyway… And then Shannon showed up."

"Oh… So what happened?"

"I killed her," Olivia answered.

Matt jumped, almost flipping his laptop off his lap as she looked at her sharply. "How long have you been there?!"

"I came in with Sam," she responded as if it was obvious and cuddled closer to Sam, still wearing her stolen blue dress, her boots laying at the foot of the couch.

Matt huffed and went back to his computer. Sam rolled his eyes. "Don't complain."

"I could go into full-on bitching mode if you would prefer that to passive-bitching mode in front of your new girl friend," Matt retorted.

"Fine, I'll take your passive-bitching," Sam said, rolling his eyes. He exchanged a helpless look with Olivia.

After a moment of silence, Matt spoke up again. "I don't know why you insist on flaunting your girlfriends in front of me."

"Considering there are far more worse things we could be doing besides just sitting here, I would say shut up before I start doing things to spite you," Sam returned.

"You will be nice," Olivia warned, sympathizing with Matt instead.

Matt looked up at her for a moment and went back to his computer work quietly. "Okay… So maybe she's not so bad."

"I don't really care if you like her or not," Sam replied.

"Okay, you two are being ridiculous. Do I need to leave?" She sat up, the dress moving over her calf to reveal a scar.

Sam saw it but didn't stare since that was rude and tactless even though he wanted to as curious as he was. "No, you're fine…"

Matt sighed. "No… Don't go. I started it. I'll stop because I actually do like you… And Sam's just pissy because his back still hurts and he gets that way when he's in pain," Matt explained with a smug smile seeing Sam's scowl.

Olivia looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Really? Are you alright then?"

"I'm fine," Sam growled glaring at Matt, who was still grinning to himself. "Actually… Out of simple curiosity… Where'd you get this scar?" he asked, changing the subject, as he traced the scar on her calf.

She stiffened and blushed. "That's nothing," She pulled the dress back down to cover it up.

Sam stared at her, mildly surprised. "There's nothing wrong with it, I was just curious…"

"Well, don't be… It's nothing," she shot back.

Sam put his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, it's nothing."

"Tsk, tsk, Sam. Don't you know anything about a girl's feelings? Scars are usually pretty embarrassing for girls… Unlike guys… Then it just adds to-"

"That's enough from the peanut gallery."

Olivia brushed the dress off, still blushing. Finally she got up. "I'm going to change out of this dress. I feel ridiculous." She picked up her stolen purse and walked into the bathroom to change.

"Well… That could have gone better…" Sam mumbled dryly.

Matt shook his head making that tutting noise again, earning a glare from Sam. "Poor girl… You're so insensitive! Geez!"

Sam shook his head and rolled his eyes. Matt saw him and took the pillow off his chair and threw it at him, actually hitting him. "Learn to be a better boyfriend!" Matt ordered. Sam turned around and threw the pillow back at him, hitting him in the face and getting a shocked squeal from Matt.

"I take it I interrupted at an awkward time for you two…" Steven commented from the doorway. Both of them froze and Matt put the pillow back. "Where's Wake?"

"I don't know… But apparently we're just having a party without him. By the way- why are you here?"

"I came to bother you… I hope that's a problem," Steven replied.

Matt raised his hand from his seat with his computer. Steven stared at him and then looked at Sam for a moment. Sam shrugged helplessly. "Matt? What do you want?"

"Sam's not being very good to Olivia… Well, not that he's much better to anybody else, but…"

"Olivia? What happened to Shannon?"

"Taken care of. I guess she thought I wouldn't find her knowing about the Guild suspicious at all," Sam said with a careless shrug.

Steven rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever you've done now, I don't care."

"Good. It's none of your business."

Matt pouted. "But Steven! You should care! You're the only parental figure he has! You're supposed to make sure he's nice and polite and- all that. You're supposed to be a role-model!"

"Matt… Maybe you didn't know but there is no Mrs. Stone… Steven is a bachelor, always has been," Sam countered to Matt's rant dismissively while Steven stood off to the side staring at the ceiling.

"But- but! Steven, you need to find a woman and get married and be a better role model!" Matt declared, pointing at Steven with his mouse.

Steven stared at him for a few moments. "Are you done?" he finally asked.

Matt sniffed and went back to working on his computer. "Yes… But seriously, you both need to get married and be happy so I can be happy."

Olivia stepped outside of the bathroom cautiously in her own clothes. "Hi, Mr. Stone!"

Steven turned around with a pleasant smile. "Good afternoon, Olivia. It's nice to see you."

"Nice to see you again too," she returned politely as she walked past him to go to Sam for a hug.

"Are you leaving?" he asked as she wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Yeah… Since I was about to fall asleep here and you need to work soon…"

Sam sat up a little bit, moving so he could talk in her ear softly and Steven and Matt couldn't hear. "You heard us fighting, didn't you."

She giggled quietly. "… Matt's sweet."

"But crazy," Sam finished.

She pulled away from him for a moment. "Yes… I'll see you around." Before she got up, she leaned back and they shared a quick goodbye kiss. She passed Steven, waving at him shyly.

Once she left, it was quiet; the only sound was Matt typing away at his keyboard. Cat woke up randomly now that it was actually quiet and ran over to Sam to curl up on his chest and fall asleep again.

"Well… She's sweet…" Steven finally commented.

"I know you all think you have to judge my taste in women, but keep it to yourself," Sam clarified.

Steven shrugged. "By the way… Riley left quietly without saying where he was going…"

Sam and Matt both grinned. "He went on a date," they both answered at the same time.

"To the Seven Stars restaurant," Sam finished.

"Ooh… Good for him… … … Please tell me you teased him."

Sam flicked a piece of hair out of his eyes carelessly and shrugged. "I may or may not have sent him a letter containing a brochure for the Hotel Grande Lake… Opened to the page about honeymoons and dates."

Steven chuckled. "He's going to be furious…"

"I know… It's going to be awesome. You have to tell me what he says."

"I will… If he doesn't just immediately go to you to vent his anger."

Sam laughed and then the smile died from his face as soon as he heard the booming voice in the gym below. Sam and Steven exchanged glances and they both sighed.

Matt shrugged, his eyes not leaving the computer screen. "Hey guys… I know where Wake is now."

* * *

**AN: **Alrighty, ladies and gentlemen, that's chapter 11.

Once again, Olivia is an OC belonging to my awesome beta and friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**! (and a big ol' thank you to her, of course)

Alrighty, let me say this up front right now: Halloween is the only holiday that I recognize and will celebrate. As far as I'm concerned, Halloween should replace every other holiday that there is. I LOVE Halloween. So this all leads up to me telling you that I will be writing a Pokemon horror-shot for Halloween. It will either have something indirectly to do with GSTA or have nothing to do with it at all, but just FYI. I'm working on several ideas for it so if I have trouble picking which one, I might ask you lovely people for your opinion.

**Thank you for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Sam stood on the beach of Pastoria City with Wake and a fellow thief, Conrad. Conrad was an middle-aged man and veteran in the art of war. Sam had worked with the him before and they'd trained the rookie thieves together for awhile. Conrad had been sent by Steven to help Sam just in case there were more of those super soldiers.

"Aye… So… Those ships are the targets…" Conrad inferred, stroking his bushy mustache.

Sam nodded. "They've been blockading the harbor for a while now. We got a report that they parted once to let another ship in, but the only real witness was murdered that same night… So we've got nothing."

"Well, let's not stand around here waiting for the tide to come back! Let's go! My pokémon have been toughen up by- mmph!"

Sam cut him off impatiently by clamping a hand over Wake's mouth. "I know you're excited and you can't really help being loud, so let me say this as nicely as possible… Shut. Up. You'll wake up everyone on those ships at the rate you're going."

Wake nodded and Sam backed off. "No talking… Got it! I'll just… Mmm…" Sam and Conrad exchanged annoyed glances when Wake immediately started humming.

"This is going to be a long hard night…" Conrad commented with a sigh. "I hope you're ready, boy."

"As I'll ever be," Sam replied dryly.

Wake almost exploded with joy and excitement. "I'm ready! Let's go!" he shouted, laughing manically as he released his Floatzel. Sam and Conrad both grimaced at the noise and Wake went back to humming.

"Well… Forget stealth mission then," Sam grumbled with a sigh. Wake jumped into the water like a bloated fish and started swimming for the ships.

Conrad looked at Sam with confusion. "Is he serious?"

"Apparently," Sam returned, moving his phone to a watertight pocket on his belt. "You know how to swim?"

"No."

"Then the Floatzel is for you," Sam returned before wading out further into the cold water and diving in.

Conrad stood on the beach along for a few moments, not sure what he was supposed to do, before the Floatzel leaped up on the beach and grabbed him, and pulled him in the water with it.

Sam was the first to reach the ship. He moved to the anchor with Wake close behind him. The Floatzel dragged Conrad under the water. Once released, Conrad rose to the surface sputtering and latched on to the wide anchor chain.

Sam looked up the ship. "I don't see anyone… You go first, Conrad."

More than happy to oblige and get out of the cold water, Conrad started pulling himself up the taut chain and to the port hole it came from. Once he got to the top and pulled himself on deck, Wake grabbed the chain. Sam started to protest, but decided there was no point. Wake was less than graceful, making all kinds of grunting noises and the chain kept clinking. Sam heard Conrad fighting the grunts who were on deck and the splashes of their bodies being thrown into the water.

Conrad looked over the edge of the ship and gave Sam less than amused look. Sam could only shrug in return. What else were they supposed to do?

Once Wake made it over the rail of the ship, Sam was finally able to climb up the chain. Unlike Wake, Sam was able to do so with hardly any noise. He cursed quietly under his breath as his arms protested the action. Conrad reached a hand down when he got close and helped him up.

Sam surveyed the deck carefully. He saw no one other than Wake and didn't hear anyone other than Wake. "Alright… Let's get in there and get this over with."

Conrad nodded, eyeing Wake distrustfully. "They've got to know we're coming by now… This won't be easy."

With a sigh, Sam walked over to the wide, black doors to the main cabin. The door was locked with a device similar to those found on the hatches of submarines. They weren't secure, but they were impossible to open quietly. Sam stared at it dejectedly.

"This is, without a doubt, doomed to go horribly wrong," he muttered.

"Just open the door," Conrad returned with a sigh. Sam started to turn the door when Wake pushed him out of the way.

"Allow me!" he offered loudly as he opened the door. "Looks clear to me! Must be sleeping! Hahahaha!"

Conrad shook his head and face-palmed. Sam got up off the ground, slicking his wet hair out of his face. "Well, if they were- they certainly aren't now… Let's go before he gets himself killed."

"At least it'd be quiet," Conrad grumbled, but followed Sam through the door into the hallway lined with doors. Sam took the left side and Conrad took the right. They both pulled out a flashlight to be able to see in the darkness and kicked open the wooden doors. Sam shined his flashlight over the room, but saw no one. He left it for the second one, hearing Conrad kick down the doors behind him. After breaking down four doors in a row and seeing absolutely no sign of life from any of them Sam stopped.

"Conrad… Are you seeing anything at all?" he whispered, getting a sense of unease.

"Nothing… Sam, I'm starting to think that-"

"They _really _knew we were coming?" Sam finished for him. They exchanged worried glances before moving closer to each other. "Yeah… I think we might have walked into a trap here."

Wake was walking out in front of them, still humming happily, unaware of the trouble they were actually in. Sam used his flashlight inspect the hallway but saw equal amounts of nothing in particular. No movement, no life, nothing at all.

"It's quiet…" Conrad murmured. "Very quiet."

Sam took a turned around, hearing nothing other than the squishing noise of his wet boots. "Don't say that… That's never a good sign." Conrad chuckled quietly.

Sam closed his eyes and stood perfectly still as he focused on listening for anybody else. Slowly, the sound of ship creaking, the lapping of waves hitting the ship, Conrad's quiet and steady breathing, and, finally, the sound of someone's careful footsteps above them.

"There's someone upstairs," he said softly. Conrad nodded and they moved down the hallway quietly but quickly. Once they reached an intersection where the hallway widened and broke off in both directions, the lights suddenly came back on. Startled and almost blinded by the bright light, Conrad and Sam moved closer to each other to protect their backs. Sam heard something heavy drop down and then he heard the door slam shut.

Conrad cursed under his breath.

Sam looked over the door, his eyes adjusted to the light and saw the bulky man heading toward them, cracking his knuckles and his neck.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't the man who killed five of my friends in Veilstone… And who's this? A friend of yours?" Sam didn't say anything in response, just narrowed his eyes into a glare as he listened for other potential enemies. "Oh don't worry, we'll kill him anyway."

"Tee hee! You forgot the big, stupid oaf," a female voice hissed from behind them with a cackling laugh. Sam turned around quickly to look at the woman while Conrad kept his eye on the other man. She was slender and looked fragile, but it was obvious from the way that she moved that she possessed a great degree of skill. Past her, he could see Wake tied up and gagged.

_That explains why it was so quiet…_

"Aw… I feel forgotten now. Are you really going to just ignore me? I feel so left out," another woman hummed from beside him. Sam looked that way but say no one. "Oh ho! You think I'm over there? How about now?"

He felt someone tap his right shoulder. Confused he turned his head that way, but still didn't see anyone.

"Oopsie! Too slow! Look this way!" the voice called, now on his left. He turned quickly and found himself looking at her face, only she was upside, hanging from the ceiling. With smooth poise, she fell from the steel rafters that laced overhead and landed on the carpet in extremely high heels with hooked toes.

Sam watched her and the other woman warily, not sure which one was more dangerous. They exchanged glances and giggled. Conrad nudged him. "We've got more company from over here," he whispered.

"How many?" he whispered back, hand hovering over the hilt of his dagger.

"Four… All men."

Sam eyed the two women in front of him distrustfully. "I'll trade you."

Conrad chuckled. "No thank you."

"So what are we supposed to do with these boys?" the first woman asked, playing with the zipper on her blood red, skin-tight, leather suit as she winked at Sam with her yellow eyes.

"Cyrus said to kill 'em," one of the men answered in a very deep voice.

The woman who'd been hanging from the ceiling pushed back her messy, smoke-gray hair out of her dark face, her blue eyes seemed to be smiling as much as she was. "Oh… But can we have fun with them first?"

"I don't care what you do as long as you kill him," a different voice growled back, gruffly.

The women smiled at each other, sharing some type of plan. Sam watched the woman with the high heels, until he saw a flash of metal from the other one. He turned to her instead.

"Too bad for you!" Since he wasn't looking anymore, the gray-haired girl moved forward quickly and kicked him in the knee with her viciously sharp, metal heels.

Sam staggered a bit, not particularly injured by it since he was wearing a kneepad, and felt her elbow slam into his shoulder and her weight as she rolled over his back. He saw the flash of red of the other woman's body suit and snapped his hand out to grab her wrist as she went for a strike. Knowing that the other woman was behind his back, he turned around to face her and twisted the other woman's arm in the process. Drawing his dagger out, he sliced up her arm before releasing her wrist. At least one of them weakening from blood loss could make or break the battle for him. He used her foot to shove her back and she landed on the floor in a heap, leaving him just the other one to deal with, momentarily.

Yowling with pain, the crimson-suited woman went for a kick, which Sam not only blocked, but he caught her foot and brought a heavy fist down on her kneecap, hearing the crack. He looked to the side to check on Conrad, who was having trouble. _I need to get rid of these two and help him… And release Wake._

Sam pulled out a throwing knife threw it at the woman in the scarlet bodysuit on the ground, the blade piercing her throat with unforgiving force.

"Just you and me now," Sam remarked with a smirk at his other opponent, who was staring at her fallen companion with wide blue eyes actually filling with tears. Hearing the stinging comment, she looked at him, her eyes filling with hatred. She leapt to the side, running up the wall before jumping off and grabbing the rails overhead- hiding in ceiling once again.

Even though the lights were on now and Sam knew she was up there, it didn't make her any easier to spot her as she was wearing a charcoal grey body suit that blended perfectly with the criss-crossing bars over head. Sam watched for her carefully as he walked slowly over to Wake. Once he got there he worked quickly, cutting the rope that held him. Even still, she was even faster. He'd only cut through a few of the coils when she kicked him in the side while flipping through the rafters, knocking him back.

Sam stood up warily, leaving Wake to wriggle out of the rope's hold. He heard the creaking of the metal behind him and turned his head to look. Seeing movement in the shadows he took a few steps back. Then she dropped down and used a bar to swing at him so fast that he had no time to react at all. She kicked him square in the chest and let go of the rail, falling with him.

In his surprise, he'd dropped his dagger and it was out of reach, leaving him almost defenseless and winded. She crouched on top of him, holding her own dagger to his throat as she leaned close to his face. "How dare you murder her… She was my sister!" She hissed at him. Sam drew out a throwing knife quietly as she spoke and dug it into the wood of floor, the silent action going unnoticed as it was in her blind spot.

"Well… Why don't you go join her," Sam responded as he grabbed her and rolled over, slamming her down on top of the throwing knife- a blade that was sharp on both ends.

Her eyes filled with pain and she was momentarily paralyzed by it as it went through her back, but that didn't last. She still went for his throat- the blade slicing down his cheek and burrowing into his shoulder as he jumped back quickly. He fingered the blade as blood bubbled up around the wound. She screamed and writhed on the ground, trying to get up. Wake finally freed himself from the rope and took off his gag. He went over to her, starting at a slight jog and jumped up, one elbow raised as he fell on top of her in a brutal elbow drop. Even Sam flinched at the sound of her chest breaking. She stopped screaming and lay still as a breath hissed out of her damaged lungs.

"Go help Conrad," Sam ordered as Wake stood up. He remained sitting, debating between taking the blade out of his shoulder or not. Taking a deep breath, he pulled it out and tossed it aside. He stood up, clamping a hand over the wound.

Conrad backed off, letting Wake take care of the last two men. Sam walked up to him. Conrad was panting from the effort of fighting four men at once and bleeding in spots, he smiled at Sam as they watched Wake thoroughly thrash the two men with absolutely brutal wrestling moves. "Heh heh… He may not be the stealthiest of fighters, but maybe he's not so bad in a fight."

Sam grimaced as Wake sidestepped a man and then proceeded to deliver a crushing kick to the man's face, shattering his jaw for sure. "Agreed… I certainly wouldn't want to be any of those guys right now."

Wake finished off the last man, breaking his neck deftly. He turned around and flexed his muscles as he broke out into singing. "The ring is my rolling sea! The towering waves shaped me! Crash! Crash! Crasher Wake!"

Sam and Conrad both stared at him. Conrad clapped with a shrug. "Good job… Now I suppose there's more of those guys."

"Let's hope not," Sam remarked, wrinkling his nose with distaste, still holding his injured shoulder.

"We're going to have to search the ship… Just to make sure," Conrad returned, stroking his mustache.

"I have a better idea…" Sam pulled out a poke ball and released Michael. He'd left Cat with Matt, but was starting to appreciate the thought of having Michael around in case he got into a really bad situation and needed to get out.

Michael stared at him with his wide blue eyes.

"Is there anyone else on the ship?" Sam asked, knowing that if there were, Michael would sense it one way or the other.

Michael sniffed the air and his ears perked up as he listened intently. Eventually his eyes started to glow as he searched mentally for anyone else. _"I don't feel any other presence. You are alone."_

"What about the other ship- can you tell that far?"

Michael shook his head. _"Not definitively, but it seems that whoever used to be here left yesterday." _Sam nodded and Michael lapsed into his typical stoic silence. Since there was no further reason for Michael to be out, Sam put him back in his poke ball.

Conrad stared at him. "So… Are we alone or not, boy?"

"We're alone as far as he can tell. Let's go and check out the other ship just in case. Chances are, if they don't attack us right away- there's nobody there. And as far as these ships go… Clean them up and sell them to some rich man. No reason to throw away what you can't sell for a good price."

Wake grinned. "Well, let's go check out that other ship!" He walked away, his thudding footsteps shaking through the floor, leaving Sam and Conrad to follow him. Once on deck, Conrad grabbed a long and broad plank of wood and laid it over the railings, connecting the two ships.

"That ought to hold us all," he determined, stepping back to admire his simple handy work.

"We'll see." Cautiously, Sam stepped onto the board and walked across. The board didn't bend at all beneath his weight and seemed hold all right. Once he was on the deck of the other ship he turned around.

"Seems to be safe…" _Well… Maybe… _He watched Wake step onto the board, exchanging somewhat worried glances with Conrad.

Wake was oblivious to their doubt and capered across easily, forcing Sam to take a step back to avoid being run over. Conrad followed with measured steps as the wind picked up. By the time he was across, Wake was already opening the door.

"Wait! Don't… Do… That… And you've done it anyway." Sam pulled at the corners of his eyes, sighing with exasperation. Wake did little more than pause before going inside. Sam rushed over to follow; upon looking in he could see the light dance off many trip wires that laced for hall like a demented floor rug. Of course, Wake had no idea. Seeing him step one of the strings and hearing the click of something preparing to spring into action, Sam leapt forward and tried to push Wake aside, which was difficult since Wake was literally twice his size.

A blade whipped out from the wall, slicing through Sam's arm, leaving a nasty cut.

Conrad jumped back. "Leaping Hell's bells!"

"Wake, outside! Go outside!" Sam ordered, backing further away from the swinging blade as Wake scooted back out on deck.

"This place is rigged… There's no getting through here. They must have been setting up the traps when we arrived. If there's anyone in here, I doubt they can get out," Sam observed before turning back, Conrad walking out with him. Conrad closed the door behind them.

"Well, now that we're properly beat up and bloodied- time to go back, eh?" Conrad surmised with a crooked grin.

Sam chuckled. "Yeah- one nice and cold swim away…"

Wake clapped them both on the shoulder with more force than he probably intended, drawing a small grunt of pain from both of them. "Standing here won't get us to shore! Come on, let's get it done!" With that he pushed them both off the deck. Sam managed to turn the push around and dive into the water with at least a small measure of dignity while Conrad flat out belly-flopped. Luckily, Wake's Floatzel was nearby and grabbed Conrad, preventing the poor man from drowning. Sam cursed repeatedly under his breath as the cold salty water stung at his wounds.

"Cannon-ball!" Wake cried loudly as he leapt off the deck and curled up into a ball, creating a huge splash. Sam dove underwater as soon as he heard Wake's cry and started swimming for the shore, not wanting to be in the water any longer than necessary. The Floatzel followed after him pulling Conrad and leaving Wake behind.

* * *

Wake sat in his gym, spacing out glumly now that the action had passed and he didn't have anything to do. He jumped a little bit when the water suddenly rose up to the highest level. He looked up and didn't see any trainers. Confused, he waited a little longer and soon enough Steven Stone walked up to him accompanied by a young man in a blue suit who Wake had never seen before.

"You here to see Sam again?"

Steven smiled at him. "I assume he's still here."

Wake nodded and stepped off his podium, escorting them to the other side of the room where there was door leading to his home. Seeing no reason to accompany them further, he left them there. Once the door was closed behind them, Steven turned to Riley.

"He doesn't seem to know who you are…"

Riley took off his hat and tucked it under his arm. "Of course not… He's too chatty and I can't go around telling everyone who I am."

Steven shrugged as they passed through the mudroom type area where Wake kept a large stack of towels among a few pairs of shoes and a bathrobe. "Fair enough… I was just curious- he's been a Guild member for a very long time after all."

"Doesn't mean he warrants information he's not responsible enough to handle," Riley returned coldly as the walked into the penthouse above Wake's gym. They immediately saw both Conrad with his shirt open enough to see the bandages and Sam pulling his shirt back on over several bandages and bruises. The nurse picked up her bag and left them shyly.

Sam looked at them and waved in acknowledgement. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

Steven gaped at him for a moment before approaching. "Arceus, are you alright? What happened?"

"More actual soldiers aboard the ship waiting just for us. I guess Cyrus really means business now," Sam told him with a careless shrug.

Riley frowned. "That doesn't sound good…"

"It's really not… We're going to have to start moving a lot faster if we want to stay ahead of these guys. They've been coming up in teams of at least five so far and those numbers are likely to jump. I'm probably going to need a partner from here on out," Sam replied.

Conrad nodded. "They're tough opponents… Solo work is going to have to stop- 'tis too dangerous."

Steven grimaced. "We'll figure something out…"

"But for now, we have a different problem," Riley started, cutting off any further words from Steven. "Team Galactic has been causing power outs in Sunyshore City and Volkner can't keep covering it up under the guise of 'new gym construction.' He wants to move now… Conrad- you will go and help him out… If he needs it."

Conrad nodded and picked up his belongings. "I'll head there now. I'll make sure the boy doesn't get himself killed."

"So… What am I supposed to do?" Sam asked, giving Riley and Steven a suspicious look.

"You are going to be Cynthia's bodyguard… At least for a while. She has been receiving threats from Team Galactic for standing in their way by preventing them from gaining access to materials regarding legendary pokémon. I want you to go and make sure that she's alright and that she'll be safe in her own home."

Sam's eyes widened. "…Are you serious?"

"Yes… I didn't think they would threaten her since she is the champion, but it seems they've gotten bolder…"

"No, no, no… That's not what I'm talking about… You want _me _to go and protect _her_?! Are you kidding me? Maybe we're not talking about the same Cynthia because the one I've heard about does not need anybody to protect her."

"Are you refusing to do it?" Riley asked, narrowing his eyes.

Sam glared at him and frowned. "You're doing this to punish me, aren't you… … Because of that stupid card I sent you."

"I admit, I was… I'm _still_ not amused."

"It's harmless teasing, Riles! For crying out loud!"

"You're being ridiculous. If you're so confident that she'll be fine, then it'll be a quick job. No big deal," Riley retorted easily.

"No big deal?" Sam repeated. "It's a huge deal! You can't leave me alone with someone like that!"

"Okay, fine. I'll humor you: Why not?" Riley asked sarcastically.

"I think by now you should know how often I say things I shouldn't… You guys… You just accept it and it's fine. I don't think Cynthia would be quiet so forgiving."

"She's a nice woman… I don't see where you have a problem," Riley stated.

"Of course not, Riley, you've never said or done anything to piss her off and even if you did, she wouldn't get mad at you," Steven replied with a dry chuckle.

Sam gestured at him. "See? Steven understands."

Riley sighed with exasperation. "Okay, fine. Then just don't say anything stupid and you'll be fine."

"But that's just it! I don't think things through at all… You know, I just _say_ things. I'm impulsive. There isn't a censor that puts up a red flag and says, 'don't say that you'll get yourself killed'."

"You're overreacting-"

"I am not."

"And I don't care what qualms you have with this arrangement- you'll go meet her tomorrow and you'll do whatever she says. End of story. You wouldn't want to be late, would you?"

Sam stared at him and sighed. "This is definitely payback for the whole Hotel Grand Lake thing."

"It can be… And for the record, your little stunt there practically shut the place down. The Hotel isn't taking people anymore and no one will leave their house because they think they'll be robbed while the police aren't around to protect them."

"Technically speaking, they can be robbed police or not," Sam returned.

"Not the point- you caused a minor panic."

"See? _Minor _panic… You're just mad because I teased you just a little bit," Sam defended.

Riley stared at him umoved. Steven looked around the room, using the silence as a chance to speak. "So… Where's Matt? Isn't he here with you?"

"He was… He went outside and he'll probably be back soon."

"Why did he go outside?"

"Well, Steven, it's kinda hard to stitch up wounds through a shirt… And you know how Matt is," Sam replied with a tired sigh.

"Right… …"

Riley looked from one to the other, confused. "Wait… What?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it, Riles."

* * *

**AN: **And the action has returned! And next week, it's a brutal battle between Sam and Cynthia! ... ... Just kidding. There's some action and a lot of silly shenanigans because Sam is such a goofball. It'll be a fun read.

Big thank you to my friend and beta, **DarkAngelTorchic!** You should really go about reading her stories because they're really good... Probably better than mine... ...

Alrighty, so, I have decided to post a horror one-shot every Wednesday in October in escalating creepiness/scariness, with the big kicker on Halloween night (which is on a Wednesday). None of these stories have anything to do with GSTA... But there will be some coming eventually because I do feel like I'll have some 'splaining to do eventually... ... Eeh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Case in point being that if you like my stories and want to read something a little more serious by me, then there you go.

**Thanks for Reading! Have a wonderful Friday.**


	13. Chapter 13

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

High on the cliffs of an island not far from the mainland of Sinnoh, a castle stands shrouded in mystery and the mist of the waterfall that cascades down the rock face. Long, long ago, the castle was built for the family of an 'knights' that traveled from Kanto. Throughout the halls, portraits of members of the family hang, the first a picture of a man bearing uncanny resemblance to Riley with a Lucario. On the picture frame was a golden tag naming the man in the portrait as Aaron. Sir Aaron.

Sam stood in front of the painting, examining it carefully. _I wonder if that's why Riley wears the hat… … Huh._ Looking down the hall, the portraits had stopped being painted almost two hundred years ago- unsurprising around the time Riley's family had come to power in the Guild. As interesting as it all was, that was not the reason he was considering going back to look at them all again. He was stalling.

Cynthia resided on the next floor up, the tallest tower in the castle. Checking the time and realizing that being late was probably not going to work in his favor. He walked down the rest of the hallway, his boots not making a noise on the tiles of the palace.

With a heavy sigh, he started walking up the stairs, musing over how Cynthia's room really ought to be in the basement since he felt like he was really walking down into hell. Instead of finding himself in a normal and nice living space, he walked into a brutally cold and professional office. The floors and walls were made of black iron and teal light blazed past in bizarre tribal patterns. Her desk was made of steel and glass and all the other furniture was made of black leather.

Cynthia however was not there. He looked around nervously, not sure if he was grateful or even more concerned. _What if-_

Any further thoughts were cut off as he suddenly found himself staring at the black length of a nightstick and the slap of it hitting Cynthia's hand as she prevented it from smacking him in the face.

"Who are you and why are you here?" She asked, steel ringing in her voice.

It took Sam a moment to gather his own thoughts together. "Uh… Sam. Riley sent me here to protect you."

Cynthia raised her eyebrows. "Protect me?" she repeated as she walked in front of him, almost perfectly quiet on her socked feet. She held the point of the nightstick in front of his face unwaveringly as she narrowed her eyes. "Do I seem like the type of person who needs protecting?"

Sam shook his head slowly. "No… But I'm just following orders."

Cynthia narrowed her gray eyes even further before snapping the nightstick back into her hands. "So Riley was worried about me… Sweet, but unnecessary. I suppose it doesn't matter. For the moment, I could use some help with a rather small but important task." She sat in her desk, tapping the nightstick in her hands as she sized him up. "You're Sam… From Hoenn, I presume?"

Sam shrugged. "… Yeah."

"Stand up straighter, I can't stand it when people slouch and don't say 'yeah'. While you are here you will answer my questions with a definitive yes are no and address me as 'ma'am'. Are we clear?" Cynthia rattled off brusquely.

Sam corrected his 'slouching', even though he wasn't really slouching in the first place. "Yes, ma'am. Crystal clear."

She eyed his posture with a small measure of approval. "That's better… We'll have to work on that. Now- I assume you've heard stories about me. I can tell you that at least half of them are true. As far as you go, I have also heard things about you."

"Good things, I hope," Sam commented with a grimace.

Cynthia continued. "Disrespectful, discourteous, cheeky, insolent, rogue, rascal, and a player… " Sam winced and swallowed.

She paused for a moment. "But… I have also heard that you are honest, brave, strong, loyal to a fault, and one of the best thieves of this time. And Steven took you under his wing as his own son… If Steven sees good in you, then I trust his judgment," she finished, standing in front of him now after leaving his desk.

Sam resisted a sigh of relief, but that feeling was quickly washed away as Cynthia tapped him under the chin with her nightstick. "Chin up! Shoulders back! Heels together!" She kicked his feet on the last one, almost knocking him off balance. She nodded curtly as he stood with 'correct' form.

"That's better." She walked back to her desk and folded her hands on the glass surface with a frigid business air. "There is another matter that I've heard about you… Walk forward."

Confused but not about to argue, he took several steps closer. "Is that-"

"Interesting… You hardly make a sound when you move… Why is that?"

"… Uh… Forcive habit? … I guess," Sam responded, not even realizing that he did that all the time.

"Hmm… Just how old of a habit is it? Did you pick it up from your recent work against Team Galactic?"

"I… … No…" She raised her eyebrows expectantly. Sam corrected himself. "No, _ma'am_."

She tapped her nails on the glass. "So what started it then?"

Sam pursued his lips together as he thought it over. He knew where it stemmed from, but that didn't mean Cynthia needed to know. "I don't know… Ma'am."

She raised her eyebrows and shrugged, seeming to accept the answer before throwing her nightstick at him, smacking him square in the chest with it. "You think you're the only one who can tell when people are lying? … … Pick it up."

He picked up her nightstick and returned it to her, saying nothing in response to that. Cynthia accepted her nightstick and tapped in on her open palm as she eyed him.

"Well… Either way..." She opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out a red ribbon with a bunch of bells tied to it and tossed it at Sam.

He caught the bells easily and looked at her with open bafflement.

"Put it on," Cynthia commanded.

"Are you serious?" he asked in disbelief.

"I won't have you sneaking around this place. I want to know where you are at all times. So you will wear those bells. Put them on."

Sam scowled and stared at the bells and then back at her before obeying, though he was clearly not in the least happy about it.

"Good enough," she observed before standing and pulling on her boots and donning her black coat. "Come with me." She strode from the room, her high heels clacking on the hard floor. Sam followed after her as asked, the bells clinging as they hit his chest and each other.

"We recently discovered a Togekiss that is trapped in the top spirals of this tower. It's hurt and scared. I've been trying to help it, but it won't let anyone near it and I don't want to hurt it. I've heard you have a knack for pokémon and they seem to just like you, for whatever reason. I want you to convince it that it's safe so we can help it. Can you accomplish that?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sam answered automatically, glaring at the bells that kept making noise darkly. _I never want to hear another bell again after this._

Cynthia looked back at him and smiled just a little bit.

He said nothing, but he picked up his pace to keep up with Cynthia's quick strides, the bells making even more noise. Cynthia took a sharp turn up a spiraling flight of stairs, still moving at an incredibly fast pace for wearing high heels. Sam didn't make if ten steps up the stairs before trying to mute the bells with his hand. Cynthia allowed herself a tiny smile knowing that he was obviously irritated by the chiming sound that was music to her ears.

Reaching the top of the staircase, Cynthia opened the massive double oak doors revealing the circular room. Sam stepped inside carefully and looked up that ceiling seeing little more than giant expanse of rafters and a few huge chandeliers.

"Talk about a high ceiling," he remarked, mildly impressed but mostly just sarcastic. He caught sight of the white bird huddled beside the roof perched on a wide beam.

"Don't release any of your pokémon… If you do, it will freak out and attack. You'll have to get to it by yourself," Cynthia stated.

Sam nodded. "Yes, ma'am… Just one question: how am I supposed to get up there?"

"We've been doing some work in these spires, trying to fix leaks in the roof and hopefully make the space more usable for carrier birds, so there's scaffolding and ladders everywhere. You should be able to climb all the way up to the main beam. Good luck, I'll be in my office. Bring it to me there once you've caught it."

With that, she walked out closing one of the doors behind her. Sam immediately took off the bells and shoved them in his pocket before sighing and looking up at the Togekiss unhappily.

"Looks like it's just you and me, buddy," Sam grumbled. He walked over to the side where a ladder led up to a tall scaffolding platform. Climbing onto the top of the platform, he looked around.

"There's nothing here to climb now… How the hell am I supposed to?" He caught sight of a ledge running around the entire wall and running onto the ledge of the door. "Oh… That's how."

Very carefully, he toed one boot onto the ledge and slowly slid his weight on it, using the wall as a poor means of balancing himself. He looked down quickly just to see how far up he really was. _Well, at least the fall won't kill me._

Moving at a very slow and steady pace, he followed the ledge along till he reached the massive concrete ledge that served as a doorframe for the equally huge doors. Standing on far more solid ground, he took some time to figure out what his next plan of action was.

_This scaffolding will take me up higher… Which is probably my best bet for a good vantage point, but there's not a platform up there anymore so if I climb up there… I can reach that ledge and then it looks like there's a rope? It's my only option, there's nothing else I can do. _

He turned and located the Togekiss, which was sitting on the main and lowest beam yet. "Good, you know what? You just stay there because I am _not_ going any higher than that beam."

Turning away and completely missing the odd look the Togekiss gave him; he started his climb up the criss-crossing bars of the scaffolding. At the top, since there wasn't a platform, he moved so he had one foot on the corner and the other not quite so securely on the iron bar right on the wall. Not even bothering to look down, he reached up and grabbed the ledge that was not wider than the other one he'd been on earlier. He pulled himself up, feeling the cut on his arm tear back open and the warm blood start seeping from the stitches. Ignoring it, he held himself up long enough to get both of his feet on the ledge and slowly get to a standing position.

He checked his arm, seeing a spot of blood through the sleeve of his gray sweatshirt. He sighed and leaned back against the cool wall, taking a short moment to loosen up again.

"I don't get paid enough to do this crap," he muttered, eyeing the reasonably thick rope that was hanging not an arm's reach away. Following the length of the rope up to the rafters with his gaze, he saw that the rope disappeared into the darkness. Judging by the frayed end, however, it seemed obvious enough that something was once tied to the rope. _Was it another chandelier? … No- those are held up by massive chains… Maybe… A bell? _He looked up into the spire and saw something gleaming in the dim light far above his head. _Rope must have broken… Probably those damn Zubat._

Sam eyed the rope again and reached his hand out to grab it, but couldn't quite reach it. He leaned out a little further and then just a little more before he started to lose his balance and he still couldn't reach it. It was obvious that he had misjudged how far away this rope was now.

He looked down cautiously. "Oh yeah… … I'd definitely be pretty broken. Okay… Falling is bad."

He raked his brain for some way to anchor himself to the ledge without and given handholds. He pulled out a throwing knife and looked at it for a moment, debating how much he trusted the small piece of metal. Not having a whole lot of other options. _The one day I didn't bring some rope with me._

Sam pulled off his belt as well, which as more for carrying weapons, pouches, and other items than the standard purpose of just holding his pants up. He slammed the needle-like knife into the wall as far as he could at an upward angle, and then used his belt buckle to hammer it in even further before re-buckling his belt together and looping it around the knife. With the extra security line, he leaned out again and was able to reach further… Just not far enough. His fingertip grazed the rope before he pulled himself back, almost losing his balance.

Cursing under his breath, he stared at the rope. "Alright… forget that then." He grabbed his belt and put it back on, leaving the knife where it was. He crouched down, one foot against the wall and his hands resting on the edge of the ledge. Knowing that timing and fluid motion was his friend in not only making the jump but then getting enough momentum to swing out over the huge iron chandelier. He ran through the jump in his head, figuring exactly what he'd have to do before he finally lurched forward and got his boots right on the edge to spring out perfectly.

He grabbed the roped and used his weight to give the rope extra swing, releasing the rope halfway up the arc. His jump was timed well enough that reaching the chandelier wasn't a problem- but avoiding slipping through the various gaping spaces was. Forgetting grace in favor of not falling to his potential death, he put his arms out; catching an iron rod in both hands and a ring that ran was placed in the middle of the outer circle with the other foot. Readjusting his grip and getting his foot up on the ring as well, he inched forward until his knees were past the ring before sitting up. He looked down past his feet and tried not to think what would have happened had he not caught himself.

Sighing wearily he looked up the big, iron chain that was his way up to the main beam and his ticket back to the floor: Togekiss.

His phone rang as he started to climb up the chain but he, obviously, wasn't going to answer it. He remained perfectly calm and tried to focus more on just getting one hand over the other than the pain from the cut or his sore muscles.

_Definitely more of an arm workout than I was planning for the week… _After climbing more than his own height, the top of the board was in reach. _I could grab it now… _Tentatively he reached his arm out but was forced to bring it back as his other arm started to give out and he almost let go of the chain. _Nope. _He wanted to pause but at this rate, he couldn't indulge that.

_Just a little further… _He put one hand over the other and pulled himself up, his arms shaking with the effort and burning from the strain and his hands starting to clamp up. Quickly, he got his other hand up and pulled himself another foot up, feeling the torn skin break as his muscles bulged. He looked down at the beam. _One more… _Exhaling, he pulled himself up one more time, almost slipping, and got his feet on the huge beam that ran the length of the tower's roof.

Physically spent, he sat down on the beam and lay back with a sigh, letting his arms hang uselessly. He was perfectly content to lay there uselessly, but his phone rang again.

"Son of a bitch… Only Steven is this persistent." With a heavy sigh, he unclipped his phone with his shaking hand and answered it lazily. "You're reached Sam- how may I help you?"

"Oh… Good you're alive," Steven breathed, obviously actually relieved.

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Alive? … … What made you think that I would be dead?"

"When you didn't answer I thought maybe Cynthia had actually killed you or something."

"I'm starting to think that she's trying to, but no- she's just made me her bitch. Nothing I can't handle," Sam replied dryly.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me. So what has she made you do so far?"

"Did you seriously call just to find out how miserable I am so you can get a good laugh?"

"No. I called to find out if you were alive and give you an opportunity to vent," Steven returned.

"… She made me wear a bell, for starters. Bells! She might as well put a collar and a leash on me," Sam started.

"Why did she make you wear bells?" Steven asked, not laughing yet, but Sam knew it was coming.

"Because I'm apparently not loud enough and she wants to be able to know where I'm at. Yeah. And before you start laughing- it gets better. Now she's literally got me on a wild bird chase. For no reason! It's ridiculous!" As he talked, the Togekiss hopped closer to him, its injured wing trailing behind it.

"… Ah… … Why don't you tell _her _that?"

"Like hell! She carries a nightstick… She already threw it at me once."

Steven finally couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing. Sam craned his neck back and looked at the curious Togekiss. "Can you believe him? It's not funny at all, is it? Yeah, you understand. If I were you, I wouldn't come down for anything either. Crazy bitch…" The Togekiss chirped at him, completely baffled but not at all scared of him since he pretty much ignored the bird and his loose posture and the fact that he was laying on his back made him appear harmless and friendly instead of a threat.

"Are you done laughing yet?" Sam asked impatiently as the Togekiss hopped up right beside his head and looked down at him. He reached up and pet the white bird's head.

Steven finally stopped laughing. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… But someday you will look back at this day and you'll think it's funny too."

"Oh, I'm sure I won't. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish up here so I can get back to solid ground… Hopefully without dying."

"What?!" Sam cut him off by hanging up and after a moment's hesitation, turned his phone off. He looked up at the Togekiss. "All right, little fella… Let's get you down from here."

Taking care not to move too suddenly, he sat up and turned around. "C'mere- it's alright…" Hesitantly the Togekiss hopped closer and into his lap. Sam inspected its wing very quickly. "You must have gotten in quite the scuffle… Explains why you're so scared of other pokémon."

Without even the faintest trace of understanding, the pokémon stared at him with trusting eyes anyway. Sam smiled and ruffled the downy feathers on its head. "You'll be alright though."

He pulled Michael's pokéball from his belt carefully, stroking the Togekiss's chest feathers to keep it calm and soothed as he released Michael. The Togekiss looked at Michael for a moment, but didn't freak out at all.

"Michael… Please teleport me to the floor," he said rather cheerfully as he picked up the Togekiss and stood. Michael obliged quickly. As soon as he saw Sam reaching for his pokéball, Michael darted forward and took it from his belt.

"Um… Hey? What are you doing?"

Michael growled unhappily, clutching the ball in his little paws.

"Alright, alright… Just stay close to me and don't cause any trouble… So no growling at Cynthia or anything of the sort."

Michael nodded, but continued holding the pokéball as he hovered behind him. Sam walked back through the halls, forgetting about the stupid bells. He walked into Cynthia's office, knocking on the wall with his elbow.

She looked up, appearing genuinely surprised to see him and the Togekiss, no less. "As you requested, ma'am."

She stood up and approached him carefully. Togekiss stared at her with a measure of recognition as she bent down to get on its level and reached out to stroke its feathers, crooning at it cheerfully.

"Hey there… You're going to be okay now. I'll take care of you until you're healthy enough to fly…" She took the Togekiss out his arms and cradled it lovingly, completely ignoring a baffled Sam. "I'll call a nurse in to take care of him," she told him, reverting to her cold business voice. She paused as she picked up the phone. "By the way, what _exactly_ were your orders? What did Riley tell you?"

Sam shrugged. "To come and do whatever you say… Ma'am."

"So you'll do anything I ask… Correct?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You have new orders- Go to the Frontier and report to Riley. You're dismissed."

"But-"

"Now," Cynthia clarified coldly, brooking no argument. Sam nodded and left, closing the door to her office behind him. He exchanged glances with Michael and shrugged.

"I guess we're leaving…" Just as he was about to walk out, since teleporting inside or out wasn't permitted inside the League, he heard Cynthia rise quickly from her desk.

"Wait!" She rushed out of her office behind him. "We have a situation- one that needs to be reported directly to Riley. I'm coming with you."

* * *

Riley stood by the windows of his office, over-looking the surrounding ocean and the sea of rustling foliage of the forest. Steven had gone back to Hoenn to deal with a small situation, but Riley knew he'd be back. He seemed particularly worried about Sam, especially now that Team Galactic was sporting fighters just as good as he was. As far as Riley was concerned, Sam could handle it. He'd managed in the past and there was no reason to doubt him now. Conrad was a good fighter as well but he didn't have that knack for thinking on his feet like Sam did. He and Volkner had cracked down on Team Galactic and grunts were starting to simply flee the city so they wouldn't have to face Volkner.

His musings over the current situation was interrupted by the sound of his secretary's panicked voice as someone, without an appointment, asked for access to him. He sighed and waited for her to call him- knowing that she would.

"Sir… Cynthia is requesting to talk to you."

_Cynthia? Sam is supposed to be with her… What is she doing here? _"Let her in…"

Turning around, he faced her as she walked in, Sam right beside her. "Is there a problem?" he asked, looking at Sam directly.

Cynthia caught the look even as she strode forward, standing directly in front of his desk. "Not with him. There have been reports of Team Galactic placing bombs in various locations around Sinnoh."

Riley's eyes widened. "Bombs? How big? Where?"

"Around all the lakes and in the ruins of Celestic Town. My sister scouted Celestic with her houndoom, but it didn't seem to react to anything so we've deemed that one to be a bluff… However, it's hard to say with the others."

Riley nodded slowly. "I didn't think they would resort to such a flashy measure."

"We've pushed them pretty far already… They're bound to fight back in any way they can," Sam responded coolly with a shrug.

They all lapsed into silence as they tried to find answers to this new, destructive threat. Lost in their own thoughts, they all jumped when Cynthia's phone rang, loud and clear in the mostly empty space.

"I… Don't recognize the number…" With a little hesitation, she answered her phone. Sam knew immediately that something was very wrong when her eyes widened with shock. Then her jaw muscles tightened and she lowered the phone from her ears and pressed a button on her phone.

"You're on speaker…" she said aloud.

"Good… I am Cyrus. I'm sure your friend the thief can affirm that for you by my voice."

Riley and Cynthia looked at Sam; he nodded. "That's Cyrus…"

"With introductions out of the way... You can't imagine my surprise to see Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh, with a member of the Guild. I suppose that explains a lot of things. But that's beside the point. I have set up nine bombs around this region. Some of them you've already discovered, some I've made obvious… Others not so much. These bombs will all go off at the same time- in roughly six hours. In case you think I'm bluffing, I have one bomb set up at the Great Marsh and it will go off in ten minutes."

Riley looked up at Sam sharply. He shrugged helplessly.

"You've been interfering with my work and now… Now it's my turn. Some of these bombs are fake, but you won't know which ones until they explode. Before I go, just one more thing: check your fax machine, Miss Cynthia."

They heard the click as he hung up. Cynthia immediately dialed another number. "Lucian! Listen… Go to my office and check the printer… I don't know, anything that has recently been printed… … "

Sam stood by, quietly for a while. Then he suddenly looked at Cynthia with open alarm. She was startled by his sudden reaction.

"Cynthia, hang up. You have to hang up your phone!"

"But-"

"He obviously has your number! He can trace it and find out where we are! You can't use your phone anymore!"

Cynthia reacted quickly. "Lucian, whatever you find, send it to Riley." She snapped her phone shut and turned it off. "I'm sorry… that was stupid of me."

"Don't worry about it- we've got far worse problems…"

Riley sat down in his chair quietly. "So… What are we supposed to do?" he asked Sam. Cynthia looked at him expectantly.

"Wow… First time today I've been in control... Anyway, Cynthia, go to Lake Valor and make sure there's nothing there. Whatever is at the Great Marsh, we'll never find it in time. If you see anyone at the lake who looks dangerous- get out. We'll send someone later if possible… And try to make sure Lucas stays out of there. If he shows up, distract him with something… I don't care what."

Cynthia nodded. "Of course… And Palmer's son… he's running around too, isn't he?"

"Just make sure he's safe… He doesn't listen very well."

With a small smile at his remark, she turned and left. Sam turned back to Riley. "Where's Steven?"

"He's safe… He went back to Hoenn this morning." Riley sighed. "This is a disaster."

"No… It's not. Not yet, anyway. We'll see what happens when these bombs go off. Some of them are obviously bluffs, we just need to find out which ones," Sam replied, shrugging it off as he went to Riley's printer grab whatever Cyrus had sent them. Riley watches as his carefree face immediately disappeared.

"Riley, pack your bags- you're coming with me."

"What?"

"He's circled the general locations of where he set the bombs… And this whole island is circled. You can't stay here, it's not safe," Sam responded quickly, pulling out his phone to call someone.

"But… Where are we going?"

"You're coming with me so I can keep an eye on you," he ordered, snapping his fingers at Riley as a 'hurry up.' "Matt! Listen, I need you to call Steven- make sure he doesn't come here until I call you and say it's okay."

"Wait- why? What is going on?!"

"No time- After that I want you to look into Cynthia for anyone who's close to her and would have access to her office or cell phone number. Send me a list later… Where's Lucas?"

"Okay… Uhm… He beat Maylene yesterday and he's probably beating Wake as we speak. He's moving pretty fast lately."

"Is Barry with him?"

"Yeah… I'm in Pastoria still so I'll make sure Wake knows what's up," Matt offered.

"Okay, I'll see you later…" He snapped his phone shut and Riley appeared with an unsurprisingly blue bag.

"So… What exactly are we doing?" Riley asked, confused but going along with whatever Sam said.

"I'm going to Canalave City- and you're coming with me. Is there anywhere there you can go where you'll be out of sight?"

"There's a network of old mines that we used to use called Iron Island… It should be safe enough there," Riley offered with a resigned sigh.

"Then that's where you're going… Does Byron know who you are?"

Riley shook his head. "No, but he knows that I'm with the Guild. We've spoken several times and we're on good terms- I think he'd be more than willing to help."

"Good because you're going to need it," Sam returned as he started to push Riley out of the room in front of him.

"So is that all I'm supposed to do? Sit around and hide while my home is under threat of being blown to hell?"

"No, Riley, your job is to stay alive so we don't have to replace you."

* * *

**AN**: And we now witness the return of action and suspense... After all the foolery with Cynthia, which was funnier than it should have been. Though Sam handled it pretty well... I couldn't resist the bells, I really couldn't. (not that I tried...) I actually did not even vaguely plan this in my outline. I was trying to figure out what to do with this chapter and while surfing around Bulbapedia, stumbled across the deal at Celestic and then played Platinum and there was the bomb at The Great Marsh, and then came the inspiration that put all the pieces together... The Dark Knight soundtrack started playing on my iPod and it was just perfect. Let's blow something up! And then I decided that someone would have to die.

**Big** thank you to my good friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**!_  
_


	14. Chapter 14

No copyright infringement intended.

Big Thanks to my beta and friend, DarkAngelTorchic!

**Thanks for reading, folks!**

* * *

Smoke rose to the cheap fluorescent lights slowly, twirling upon itself in the dark and somber atmosphere. Byron took another breath of his cigar, staring at the two men in front of him thoughtfully.

"So _that's _how it goes, eh?" Byron said slowly, nodding sagely and eyeing Riley curiously. The oddly warm handshake and happy one-armed hug as soon as they'd walked in had made it very clear that they'd met before and Riley's not quite so friendly returns made it equally obvious that Byron's almost fatherly affections were not necessarily appreciated. Sam had also learned that Byron did not know who Riley was, an interesting tidbit of knowledge.

"Is Iron Island safe?" Sam repeated himself from earlier, having told Byron a good pack of lies with some truthful tidbits from Riley.

"It's safe enough… My workers are all over the place- I'll let them know that Riley is coming and to keep an eye on him. But you've been there before so I won't worry too much about you getting lost," he said, addressing Riley near the end.

Riley nodded. "I trained there a lot when I was younger, I know that place very well."

"Aye… How old are you now? … Older than my son, that's for sure. That boy couldn't find his ass with both hands."

Sam interrupted them quickly. "How soon can you get him there? We're running on a tight schedule. You and I need to get to the sewers and get rid of Team Galactic as soon as possible."

"I'll have a ship ready here in twenty minutes…" he rose from his chair at the heavy wooden table they sat at calmly and walked over to a wooden hutch carrying enough bottles of alcohol to give a bar a run for its money. He pulled a brown glass bottle down and took the cork off, tipping the contents out into his hand: a ring of keys. He turned to the table with the keys and another bottle, tossing the keys at Riley. Sam knew full well that Riley couldn't catch, so he caught the keys for him before dropping them on the table.

"Keys to the cabin?" Riley asked slowly.

Bryon nodded, some ashes from his cigar floating to the ground. "Aye! It's always unlocked for the workers. Lock it up at night if you need to sleep there, otherwise- I'm here if you need me to bury some of those weirdo's… Get it? Bury? With my shovel?! Guahahaha!

Sam leaned over to Riley as Byron took a drink from the brandy. "You were there when you were younger?" he asked in a low whisper.

Riley shrugged. "The whole island and the mine on it belong to my father… I spent a lot of time there as a kid… And recently- when I'm not too busy dealing with you."

"Alright, boys! Let's clear out of here… Er… Wait, no… I'll go get that crew ready for you, Riley. Just stay here!" Byron called loudly as he headed for the door. Sam waited patiently for him to leave the Gym entirely, hearing Riley sigh with relief as soon as Byron left.

"So… What's the deal with you and him?" Sam asked, curious.

Riley sighed, his stoic Lucario who stood beside him all the time like a ghost seemed to feel the same resignation. "It's a very long story."

"We've got a whole whopping twenty minutes… Shoot."

"And you have four hours to stop bombs from going off all over the region," Riley returned.

Sam waved him off. "Ah, no reason worrying about that. And that map… He's got 15 circles on there- pretty much every city there is with a few other choice locations. Thieves are already sweeping the cities and they've all come up clean," he said with a bored yawn. "He's probably just messing with us."

"And it's working," Riley pointed out.

"Mm, I'm not too worried, however- Can't risk your safety, Mr. Thief Lord Riley. I would have gotten Cheryl for you but-"

"… … You're going to tease me until I tell you about Byron, aren't you?"

"I'm bored out of my mind. Talk, or I will. So, your father owned the mine there?"

"Yes… It was his best source of income and a business endeavor before he took up the title of Thief Lord like his father and grandfather before him. Even when he was in charge, he kept the mine under his control, but leased some power of it to Byron. My brother and I trained there often… My father was a little paranoid and was always worried about us whenever we went outside but he was never worried about the mine."

" So… Now it's your mine?" Sam inferred, not asking about his brother.

Riley shrugged. "Yes and no… My father still has it."

"Oh… Wait- he's still alive?"

Riley stared at him. "Of course he is."

"Oh… You never really mentioned him and the few times you have, it was all past-tense so I assumed he was dead."

"We haven't spoken in years…" Riley stated, his jaw tightening up.

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Not on good terms with your father, I take it… Off that subject then-so how does Byron fit into the picture?"

"Byron has always been interested in us since he knows my family owns the mine. I guess Roark wasn't quite the son he wanted and took a shine to me. It's caused a lot of problems with their family, honestly. Byron's wife flat out left him and took Roark with her to Oreburgh City. Roark blames me for the loss of his father… And then of course, Byron ended up asking me to take a gym instead of Roark."

Sam whistled. "Damn…"

"So… Roark can never know who I am and Byron can't either… It's best he just be left in the dark too."

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Politics… Good thing you're in charge and not me."

Riley chuckled. "Well… At the moment, you've got more say in things than I do. I'm following your orders on a general basis lately."

"Eeh… If it makes you feel any better- I follow Cynthia's orders and she actually _does_ listen to you so it's a circle of power we've got going on now."

"You listen to Cynthia?" Riley asked incredulously.

"Well, duh."

"… Why do you listen to her and not me?"

Sam stared at him seriously. "Because you don't scare me. Not even a little. Cynthia, however… She stands in a scary category all by herself."

Riley sighed for a moment and then turned back to Sam as a thought occurred to him. "Does she scare you more than Sabrina?"

"That is a very good question… … I'm not sure at the moment. I think Sabrina is actually a little scarier. She can read minds and she is far more vicious," Sam explained.

Riley rolled his eyes, but he did smile since he was amused. "You're ridiculous."

Sam shrugged. They waited in patient silence for Byron to return, knowing that by the time he did, he would have consumed enough alcohol to end up pretty chatty and happy. Everyone knew that Bryon was a chatty drunk, though he could still function pretty well. Hearing Byron stamp back down the stairs, they both exchanged glances with each other.

Riley looked at Sam quickly. "Is there anything you think I should know before I go?"

"Pretend to be a perfectly normal trainer there with the same back-story you gave Byron. I'd bet about anything Lucas won't be too far behind you… If Team Galactic is there… And it's hard to say, just keep your head down and try to really sell your fake identity."

"I can do that…"

"Your ship is about ready, Riley… Head on up if you like!" Byron greeted loudly as he arrived on the ground floor.

With a final nod at Sam, Riley straightened his jacket. "Of course. I'll see you later, Byron."

Byron sat back at the table with Sam, his friendly aura leaving with Riley. "So… Now what?"

"Show me where Team Galactic is holed up."

Byron grunted and got back up, gesturing for Sam to follow suit. Outside, he led Sam to docks on the same side of the canal as the Gym. Just a little past that was a darker colored patch of tiles and Byron stopped in front of it. "This is it… That tile is the entrance to the tunnels… I suppose a hotshot like you can handle it yourself, right?"

"Oh, you're coming with me, make no mistake," Sam replied curtly as he knelt down to lift up the hatch to the network of water tunnels.

"Gwuahahaha! Aren't you a spitfire… Tell you what, I'd love to go down there with you but that boy… What's his name… Lucas? Cynthia called to say that he's heading our way right now. You're on your own this time… If you need the extra help, just call up and I'll come down. Otherwise, have fun. Show those lightweights the power of the Guild's guard."

Sam glared at Byron's cape'd back as he walked away. Muttering under his breath about the injustices he was constantly having to deal with, he climbed down the ladder into the sewer-like tunnel below and closed the grate above his head.

Water slid over the surface of the cement framing the waterway sluggishly. The lights were dim or burnt out and the walls of the tunnels were lined with warning signs. These tunnels were not part of the sewers, rather they were more like bilge channels. In times of drought, the canal of Canalave was dammed to send water through the tunnels and to the three lakes so they were never empty. In times of flooding in Canalave, the tunnels were opened to take the access water, which would sometimes sit in the tunnels for a while with nowhere to go.

Sam stood on the cement sidewalk and sighed. _Cat and Michael are all I've got with me… And they've spent a lot of time in their pokéballs lately… They could use the extra time to just run around. _Grudgingly, he pulled out the two luxury balls and released the pair.

Cat looked around mystified while she stretched her tiny body. _"Wotz dis?" _she asked, almost sticking her nose in the putrid, green, bilge water.

"It's bad for you, little Cat… Just stay away from there," Sam answered. Keeping an eye on Cat, who was brimming with curiosity, he turned to Michael. "How many people are down here with us? Fifty? Sixty? A hundred?" he asked with a weary sigh. _Of course it's the 'holding ground' with a million grunts that I have to tromp through alone._

"_No… …" _Michael held up his paws, a gesture that Sam had taught him. It was hard to teach a pokémon how to count, as he'd discovered, so he tried something else. He would hold up his hands and if they could count whatever it was on his fingers, they would and if there were more, they would just say 'a lot'.

Sam held both hands up. Michael floated right in front of him, his eyes glowing faintly as he touched his fingers. He touched all of them and then looked at Sam expectantly.

"So… There's ten? … Are you serious?"

Michael put his ears back and squinted at him. Sam sighed. "Right, of course you are. I forget you have no sense of humor."

Cat looked at him sharply from her splashing in the water. _"Wotz 'cenz'?"_

Sam shrugged. "Well, whatever it is, none of us have it… Speaking of which, I need to make a quick phone call to make sure everything is alright with our friends upstairs…" Michael ceased hovering and transformed into a Luxray as Sam pulled out his phone from the pocket of his jeans. Normally he would have worn his 'uniform' of black and armor but since it was bilge water, he'd opted to just simplify so he wouldn't have to try to wash the smell of putrid water out and he could throw the soiled clothing away.

Amazed that he had enough service at all, he waited patiently for the call to go through and eventually heard Matt pick up the phone. "Hellooo! What can I help you with now, sweetheart?"

"… … I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," Sam replied with an exasperated sigh. Matt giggled. "Anyway- what's the situation right now- what areas are clear?"

"Well, first off- yes I got the map and sent it out to everybody… And I told Steven to stay away but he's totally freaking out. Now to your question: nobody really keeps me in the loop of things so I had to hack into the database which led to me meeting up with Cynthia… Just in case you were wondering how I got this information-"

"I wasn't. Just tell me what I want to know," Sam answered with a heavy sigh. His hand brushed the cut that ran across his cheek from Pastoria and he winced. _Damn, keep forgetting about that._

"Alright, alright… Lake Verity's bomb is determined to be fake same as Acuity. Oreburgh, Eterna, Hearthome, Veilstone, Pastoria, and Snowpoint are all fake. There's nothing there. Cynthia said that Lake Valor is fine- her Lucario didn't sense anything… But she was kicked out of there by a whole army of Galactics led by some guy named Saturn. There might be a bomb there now but there's no way to get to it," Matt explained.

"Alright so… Where else could these bombs be?" Sam asked. _Would Cyrus really plant eight fake bombs to hide just one?_

"Well, the Battle Island hasn't been cleared yet… The League and Canalave haven't been cleared yet as well as there's supposedly one randomly in the middle of Route 'Frozen Hell'."

"Why would they put one there? There's nothing to there to blow up other than some snow and ice."

"Wouldn't know. I'm not a bomb-happy psycho named Cyrus. No one's going out there to check though, Cynthia is prioritizing things."

"Well, as long as Cynthia's in charge then Sinnoh is in capable hands and I won't worry about it… I'll see you later. I've got to deal with Canalave right now."

"Ah… Is Byron driving you crazy yet?"

"No. Byron isn't coming with me. I guess Lucas is on his way?"

"Oh! Yeah, yeah. Actually- he's there... … Right now. And on his way to Iron Island, it looks like."

Sam nodded slowly. _Well… If he's there, maybe he can team up with Riley or something if Team Galactic is there. _"Alright well- I really do need to go now."

"Alright, bye."

Sam hung up and looked down at Michael. "And now time for us to take care of this nonsense."

Michael stood up from lying at his feet and stretched with a yawn before shaking his coat. Cat came bounding up and pranced around his feet happily.

"_We iz a goo'n ta exploor?!"_

"Yes, Cat, we're going to explore… Without a map and a clue."

"_Iz be funn!" _she squeaked enthusiastically.

"Oh, yes. Loads of fun," Sam said with a resigned sigh. He looked both ways. _If we go right, that'll take us up near the Library… If we go left we start heading towards… Lake Verity. _He grabbed Cat's paw so she wouldn't stray off too far. More than happy to comply, she wrapped her small 'fingers' around his thumb and skipped along beside him as they headed north, towards the Library.

In the labyrinth of tunnels, even the slightest sound echoed. Sam tried not to grimace at all the noise Cat made as she bounced along, completely carefree. Michael padded beside him, sniffing the air carefully.

Ignoring all the small tunnels that branched off, Sam kept walking a simple path along the sidewalk until Michael stopped suddenly and growled warningly. Sam nodded at him, hearing the scraping around of someone else. He picked up Cat carefully and waded through the shallow water to the other side before setting Cat down and holding a finger to his lips. Cat mimicked the gesture and sat down, quietly playing with her toes, which apparently interested her greatly sometimes.

Unable to tell how far down the tunnel they were in retrospect to the town above, only that they hadn't gone very far, Sam peeked around the corner and saw the tell-tale uniform of a grunt partaking in the burning books. He saw a second one tending to the steady blaze.

_Am I… Underneath the Library? Some secret basement part of it? _Eyeing them as the other grunt took a few more books from the shelf, Sam started to slowly walk closer to them. _Either way, I suppose I can't let them burn secret books._

Sam was able to enter their little 'camp' entirely unnoticed. He leaned over the fire and tried to read what little of the titles were left. "So… What are you guys doing?" They both jumped, the one grunt dropping his stack of books. Sam smiled at them and shrugged. "Well, of course, besides burning books. I can see that."

"Y… You're too late anyway! These books… This whole place is going to be destroyed! You can't stop it!" the grunt closest to him stammered, her voice shaking with fear.

"Strong words… Without the confidence to back them up. From a professional to a novice: at least pretend you're not afraid," Sam advised with a very friendly smile before taking a step forward. Hearing a small noise, he stopped and looked to his left sharply and saw a man walk out of the shadows.

"Interesting. This whole offering advice to your prey… before you kill them, of course," the man commented stroking his chin.

"I like match-ups that are a little more… Fair," Sam replied.

The man narrowed his eyes. "So how about me… Think we're pretty fair?" He nodded at the two other grunts, dismissing them and they were more than happy to leave.

Sam watched them go before turning back to his new opponent. "So long as it's just me and you and not you and your seven other buddies all at once," Sam clarified, motioning at the other figures still in the shadows.

He chuckled. "Oh, you're quick… C'mon out, boys and girls." Slowly the seven others stepped out; all of them around his age and all of their faces were hardened to a deathly cold scowl.

"Meet the young protégés of our class. They all want to be the one to claim the glory for killing you: the man who murdered over ten of our order."

"Sorry… But I like living, so naturally it was me or them. I guess you guys just weren't as good as you'd all like to think you are. But hey- we're moving up in the world. If six of you couldn't kill me, let's try eight, huh?" Sam teased with an annoyingly charming smile and a wink at one of the women.

The man at the lead narrowed his eyes. "Let's remember that every other time, you've had a partner to help you. Now you're alone- we can get you out of the way." Slowly, he advanced forward, the seven others striding quickly to come up beside him, drawing their weapons.

Sam backed up a little before realizing that the fire was right behind him and their advance didn't even hesitate. "You know… _Alone_ is a strong word to describe me. You may want to rethink that."

The other man paused for only a moment, but it gave Michael enough time to jump in with a ferocious growl.

"Michael… Leave the big guy for me and keep those others off my back."

"You think your dog can stop seven people?" the man asked incredulously and laughing at Sam.

"From one professional to another- never underestimate your opponent," Sam replied. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to cut the idle chit-chat." Making the decisive first move, he grabbed three throwing knives from his belt and whipped them out at one of the younger soldiers.

The leader immediately snapped into action and closed the distance between him and Sam quickly. Sam tried to side-step him quickly, but the other man saw it coming and slammed his elbow square into Sam's chest, causing him to fall. Suspecting another blow, as soon as he hit the ground, Sam rolled aside and drew his dagger, the only one he had since he'd figured on an easy job with a bunch of grunts and Byron's help. Easy was not what he'd gotten.

Up on his feet now, Sam and his opponent circled each other, eyeing each other and figuring out how to win. _He's good. Probably as good as I… No. I'll assume he's even better than me. _Sam twirled the dagger quickly, loosening up his hand and solidifying his grip. _Disarm him, use pressure points, and tricks to disorient him and then take him down… And avoid being hit. _Having no protection other than the simple black shirt and an old brown sweatshirt he'd thrown on this morning compared to the other guy wearing an obviously padded vest, he was definitely at a disadvantage.

Behind him, Sam could hear the screams of agony and the ferocious growling as Michael took care of the seven others. Then he heard a small squeak noise. _Cat? _He turned around immediately to see Cat joining the fray ferociously, doling out kicks and punches as she and Michael held back the others from interfering.

He was so worried about her that he'd forgotten about fighting his own opponent and barely managed to dodge the blade that went straight for his throat. Sam was shaken for a brief few seconds, but regained composure quickly. He retaliated quickly with a slash, not at the other man's throat like he'd anticipated, but right through the skin of his eyebrows. It was a cut not meant to wound, but the warm and sticky blood would blind the man soon enough.

"Ah… Clever, clever… You're not so bad at all," the man responded with a dry chuckle as he wiped the blood away from his eyes as he backed away.

Sam wasn't going to just allow that. He stepped forward with him and slammed the heel of his boot right on the other man's kneecap, dislocating it. As he fell with a grunt, Sam went for a lethal strike where the Jugular vein was. Before the blade could land, he felt the powerful blow to his shin, knocking his foot back and sending him off balance. His strike flew harmlessly past the man's chin, and he, obviously able to still see through his blood-caked eyes, grabbed Sam's hand tried to twist it. Sam reacted by flipping in the direction it would have been twisted and freeing his hand at the same time.

Taking a step back, Sam kicked the blade out of the other man's hands sending it spinning. Cursing, the man tried to clear the blood from his eyes. Sam lashed out with another kick, this time the steel-toe of his boot colliding with the man's jaw, snapping his head back with a crack. He fell back, his head lolling to side from his now broken neck. Sam stepped back and sighed with a mixture of weariness and relief.

His moment of triumph was short-lived as he heard someone running up behind him. He turned to see the flash of a girl's boots before they collided with the back of his knees, knocking him over. In seconds of hitting the ground she was on top of him with her blade going for his throat. Sam dropped his own weapon in favor of stopping the very determined and obviously very angry woman from killing him with both hands. He was strong, but his arms were still hurting from his other recent, back-to-back misadventures and she was fuelled with a murderous desire. The blade inched ever closer to his neck as he fought against the push.

The struggle was ended in a flash of blue fur, burning yellow eyes, and bloodied teeth as Michael pounced on her, knocking her back. Sam slid away from her quickly as Michael loosed a burst of electricity on the girl, killing her. Sam looked around to the others, seeing the mass of dead bodies- some burnt from Cat, others blue with frost on their clothes, and some still twitching from the electricity coursing through their dead bodies.

Sam sighed and leaned back on his hands. "Well, that was more action than I scheduled for today…" Cat skipped up to him happily and crawled up in his lap. Michael put out the fire with a jet of water before coming over to Sam and sitting right beside him in a dignified fashion, with blood and a few shreds of skin hanging from his jaws.

Sam ruffled his ears teasingly before pulling one of the pieces of flesh from Michael's teeth. "There, now you've got class."

Michael growled at him with smug pleasure. Sam chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, just consider yourself lucky that I even let you help."

Michael snorted haughtily in response. Cat, feeling ignored, clamored for Sam's attention by pulling roughly on the string running through the hood of his sweatshirt. Sam smiled at her, however startled by the gesture, and pulled on her ear gently before rubbing her small back, right in between her shoulder blades; her favorite spot of all. She stretched out on his lap, her tail curling up happily. Michael, knowing that it would be awhile before Cat allowed the petting to stop, lay down beside Sam. Cat reached out with her little paws and tugged on and generally played with Michael's dark blue mane.

Now that his life wasn't in danger anymore and Canalave's little Galactic hideaway was already taken care of, the adrenaline rush that had been spurring him all day finally died and now he just felt exhausted. He sat patiently for Cat before he was too tempted to just lie down and fall asleep and stood up, much to Cat's protests.

Needing something to do, he decided to inspect the books that the grunts were trying to burn. The ones that had been thrown into the fire were already ash and there was nothing to be deciphered from it. With a tired sigh, he walked over to the walls that formed a decrepit shell of safety for the books. He half expected them to be moldy and falling apart from the water that had been down here with them for ages, but they were all in fairly nice condition.

As he read the titles, it suddenly became extremely obvious why Team Galactic had not only shown interest in these books but also why they were trying to burn them. They were all books on how to make weapons; guns, bombs, missiles, and cannons.

"Oh… shit…" He looked around at all the books noticing which ones were on the floor. _They must have been brought down here when guns were outlawed and 'destroyed'… _Looking back at the wall, he realized that it had been knocked down and tampered with, not fallen apart from age, explaining why the books were in as good of condition as they were.

Sam ran his hands through his hair with a growing feeling of apprehension. _They've been down here with access to these books for over a year… There's no telling how much they know now. The fact that he specifically sent grunts down here to burn these books just makes it that much more obvious that he's trying to make sure we don't get the same information but… _He looked at the stacks of books and saw the bookmarks sticking out of them. _I can't carry all of these out, but I can save some._

Sam knelt down and started sorting through them all, picking out the ones with a lot of bookmarks in them and dog-eared pages, knowing that they were the most useful, more than likely. Selecting five thick, heavy books that covered all the information, he set them aside. _Knowing the Guild, whoever put these books here would have hid something… A message or prototype, maybe even a blueprint-type deal._

With no way to tell otherwise, he started taking books off the shelves and splitting them open unceremoniously. Pages split from the binding and formed a rapidly expanding pile of paper at his feet but he kept going, working quickly as he had the premonition that he did not have a lot of time. He grabbed a big blue book off the shelves and when he split it open, all the pages fell out but one. He turned the book over and looked at the lone piece of paper and recognized the drawing of a rifle instantly. Branching off were little bubbles of information about how to construct the weapon. Sam tore the page out and folded it quickly before sticking it in his pocket.

Michael and Cat eventually came and sat nearby, watching until they eventually fell asleep. Without tracking the time other than to say it had probably been awhile, he was finally on the sixth and last shelf. He reached up to take an old book that was just as decrepit looking as the others beside it. When he tried to take the book down, however, it didn't budge. Sam looked up at it fingered the spine, realizing that there was something very odd about this book. He pulled on it again and saw the spines of all the other books come back with it.

_What is this? _Sam stood up on his toes and ran his hand along tops of the books, feeling a latch in the paper. He found the other one with his other hand and flipped the latches and the spines of all the books fell forward. _A box… Disguised as a row of books? … Ingenious. _He reached in the box and felt the cold metal of what was inside. Carefully, he slid the thing out where he could see it better. The dim light reflected off the long barrel of the rifle.

"Oooh… Jackpot." While he wasn't overly familiar with firearms (and not nearly as good at using them as he was with blades) he knew that he was dealing with a very powerful weapon. A black strap hung from it for carrying purposes and a scope was attached to the top of the barrel that magnified objects and had a crosshair to aim. He set the rifle aside and continued tearing through the books, eventually discovering a pack of different kinds bullets, four different blueprints, and a pistol.

Checking his phone, he realized that more time had passed than he thought. _Lake Valor will be blown up in less than an hour…_While he wished he could help, there was nothing they could do. The Guild's best bet was just erasing Team Galactic where they could and let Lucas handle the more public things. As he started to leave, the rifle slung over his shoulder, he got the incredibly nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. Catching sight of the word 'bomb' on a piece of paper finally connected all the dots for him.

There actually was a bomb in Canalave City. The bomb was not for destruction necessarily, but to make sure that no matter what, these books would not fall back into the Guild's hands. And that was why it didn't matter what he did, it was, as the grunt said, too late. The bomb was set down here, somewhere in the tunnels, with him.

"Michael… Michael, wake up," Sam whispered to the pokémon urgently. Michael opened one of his golden eyes lazily and looked at him. "Do you smell anything… strange down here?"

With an irritated grunt, Michael transformed into a mightyena and sniffed the air. _"Nothing but water… Why?"_

Sam pursed his lips and looked around, scanning the area for anything that seemed like it could be it. "… Okay… I need you to come with me- I need to find something."

"_What are we looking for?"_

"Anything that looks like it could explode violently," Sam responded with a shrug. He picked up Cat and the stack of books and walked back to the ladder they'd come from, hearing the sounds of battling above his head coming from where the gym would be located as they walked past it. _Must be Lucas…_

He set Cat up on a higher rung of the ladder and tied the books and the rifle to one below her. "Cat- I need you to stay here. Me and Michael will be right back… Alright?"

She tugged on her snout and nodded, her form of a salute. Sam dropped back down and looked to his left this time. Michael followed at his heels as he walked a measured distance. He checked every niche, corner, and small tunnel with Michael right on his heels checking everything with him. They worked their way slowly back to library and still found nothing.

With the shelves in sight, Sam started to get even more worried knowing that he'd already wasted so much time looking in the wrong direction. Michael continued sniffing around until Sam's phone ringing shattered the silence.

Sam answered it quickly. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"… No… Well, not really anyway. I just thought I'd let you know that number one you are cutting out really bad and two there's like … Five minutes or less or something until those hidden bombs go off," Matt said.

"Yeah… I know- I'm currently looking for one," Sam replied walking down a small and narrow tunnel, the last before the Library area after Michael, who ran in there quickly after catching a strange scent. He followed it the tunnel's path as it, unlike the others, turned to head north and opened up into something of a storage closet. Only this storage area was now filled with barrels of explosive chemicals with a lot of wires and a timer counting down two and a half "Actually I am looking at one. Funny how it's always the last place you look…"

"You're standing by a bomb!?" Matt repeated shrilly.

Sam walked closer and inspected the barrels. "Yeah… So… How do you go about disarming a bomb?" he asked, poking at some of the wires curiously. Michael sat back and watched, eyeing the barrels suspiciously.

"You can't be serious!" Matt exclaimed after being too shocked to reply for a few moments.

"Dead serious… I've been in a lot of dangerous, volatile, and just plain weird situations, but a bomb has never come up before and I'm actually not entirely sure what to do… Cut the wires, maybe?"

"Sam! NO! Do _not_ touch the bomb! Get out of there! Leave it!" Matt shrieked at him, totally panicking.

"And just let it go off? … Am I allowed to do that?"

"Well, you're not allowed to die so get the hell out of… Wherever you are!"

With a sigh, he stepped back from the bomb, eyeing the timer that was giving him less than a minute now. "Good point…"

"Yes! Now get out of there and then you have a meeting with Riley and some guys at the League- so don't be late… Or dead!"

Sam laughed. "Right, right… I'll be there." He hung up his phone and gave the bomb one last glance before turning to leave with Michael on his heels.

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Riley sat quietly in the cabin after battling some Galactic grunts with the help of Lucas, hands folded beneath his chin as he gazed out the window towards Lake Valor- knowing that soon the lake would be destroyed along with a few other locations, though he had no idea where. No one did except for Team Galactic.

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The grunts avoided her like the plague. She'd been there for not even a day and already there was no questioning that she was not a woman they wanted to disobey. Cyrus stood beside her, hand clasped behind his back.

"Remind me again why we set up a bomb in the house of some random old man out on Route 217 of all places?" Cyrus asked, ice in his voice.

Her red lips curled up into a smile. "Because, dear, the former leader of the Guild lives there."

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Silver ran through the man's hair, making him appear older than his fifty some years. Pulling his quilted blue robe tighter around his frail body, he shuffled down the stairs in his fur-lined slippers holding a coffee mug in his hands. In his basement, he flipped on the switch and saw three barrel drums wired together and the timer. He dropped the mug, and it shattered to the floor. Slowly, he walked back up the stairs. He looked to his fireplace and at the warm fire before looking up to the mantle and saw the family portrait: his beautiful wife smiling and his two sons standing side-by-side, almost identical to each other with their blue hair and similarly blue eyes. He sighed heavily and a tear ran down his wrinkled cheek.

"Arceus help you, Riley, that you never make the same mistakes I did…"

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The grunts gathered around their blue-haired leader faithfully as he stared across the water with a mixture of dread and regret. The bomb hadn't even gone off yet but he could already see the destruction it would cause. At the fretful pulling on his sleeve, he looked down into the face of a young woman wearing the Galactic uniform, her teal eyes pleading with him.

"C'mon, Saturn… We have to get away from here! Now!" He nodded and turned away, running with them so that, even though he wanted to feel the flames of the destruction himself, they would not have to die with him. Deep in his soul, he knew that what they were doing was wrong, but it was for Team Galactic… It was for a new world without suffering. Moral sacrifices had to be made. Saturn steeled himself for the tragedy to come.

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Cynthia grabbed her things from her office. Reminding herself to leave her phone, she reached for her coat instead until she heard footsteps into her office. She looked up sharply and saw the young man standing before her with orange eyes that burned with hatred beneath his sandy brown hair.

"Ben?" she said, her voice not carrying the same steel as normal as she looked at the boy that had been helping her as her assistant and seeing the snarling houndoom at his side. He scowled at her. With a sigh, she narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "So you're the one betrayed me…" she growled, reaching for her nightstick.

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"Very well, I'm counting on you."

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"And that leaves Lucas with Lake Valor."

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"The lake is between Veilstone and Pastoria, if memory serves."

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	15. Chapter 15

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Riley stood still, staring out the window impassively as the chaos behind him reigned. Steven sat at the meeting table dead silent with worry etched deep over his face and pain and fear filling his pale blue eyes. Matt was absolutely freaking out as Sam had still not returned and was not answering his phone. Information had come in and the total was three bombs: one at Lake Valor, a small one in the sewers that didn't do anything more than shake Canalave a little bit and possibly kill Sam (but Riley doubted that), and one on Route 217… A bomb that killed his father.

Riley still wasn't sure what upset him the most about that: the fact that his father was gone or the fact that he would no doubt have to deal with his mother and his brother for a good week. While the relationship with his father wasn't bad and there had been a time when he had loved his father and looked up to him, something… happened. It just seemed like one day his father woke up and couldn't stand the sight of any of his family anymore. After a year more of a strained marriage, his father just left, leaving the Guild to Riley at the age of 16… And pissing off his elder brother. Sure, the man called with advice now and then, but for the most part, the feeling of 'I don't want to see you again' was mutual. His mother's dramatics had never entertained him, but she liked being the center of attention. Nathan... Nathan hated him and it had been that way for some time now. What Nathan didn't understand was that being the Thief Lord was not as great as it sounded.

_Sam needs to get here… Maybe he can piss them both off so much they'll leave,_ Riley mused as he heard his mother sniffling behind him and Nathan trying to comfort her, notably far kinder than Riley had been. The woman had insisted that they all stay together right now in their 'family tragedy'. As far as Riley was concerned, the only thing tragic about it was that now he had a headache and still needed to deal with the fiasco at hand. Louder than her was Matt's rambling of self-assurance that Sam would come back in an attempt to cheer Steven up. Riley looked over at Steven and saw the look on his face and knew that it was not working even a little. Matt looked up at him helplessly. Riley sighed and turned away from the window for the first time in the last half hour.

"Steven… He's fine. I'm sure he'll be here soon enough and with some stupid comment like usual. You have nothing to worry about," Riley offered.

Nathan looked up at him sharply. "You haven't said a word in hours, and now you're only talking to him? He's not even family! She's your mother too!"

Riley frowned. "It's hardly been an hour, much less several. Trust me… I've been watching the clock."

His mom reached out a hand to him, obviously wanting a hug, though Riley was more than content to stand back coldly. "Honey, he was your father..."

"I haven't seen the man almost a decade-" Riley started, knowing the argument that was coming- he'd been down a similar road before. Steven and Matt were obviously very uncomfortable being guest to their family issues and while Riley could sympathize with that- if he could make them leave, he would.

"Your father loved you very much," she argued desperately.

"Yes, I know… Past-tense. I get it, _mother_," Riley clarified before turning back to the window. Even Nathan couldn't protest that, but he still glared daggers at Riley's back.

"What has happened with you two? We used to be a family!" she cried, yet more tears welling up in her blue eyes. Nathan pursed his lips together but said nothing. Riley resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sigh like normal, knowing full well that all that did was encourage her theatrics. She sniffed loudly and then finally stood up and walked out.

Nathan sighed and chased after her. "Wait, mom…"

Matt coughed, disrupting the awkward silence that fell after the pair left. "Ahem… Well… I- er… I'm going to-" He stopped talking as they heard the guards scrambling to open the doors.

Steven and Riley both looked at the door, knowing how Sam had a tendency to work up the guards. Steven's face immediately filled with relief. The doors to the room opened to reveal Sam and Cynthia… Her arm was wrapped around his shoulders as she staggered and Sam tried to support her. Blood dripped from her arm and she was limping.

"Now, don't everyone jump up at once to help… Geez. You would think I wouldn't have to tell your guards to go get a nurse," Sam commented.

Cynthia tried to push away from him. "I'm fine… I don't need your help." She straightened her plain black shirt and smoothed out her hair a little bit with her clean hand and Sam took a step back.

"Yeah… You look like you don't need help…" Sam replied dryly, getting a frosty glare from Cynthia. She tried to take a step and promptly started to drop to the ground. Sam was quick catching her. "Alright… That's the last time we're playing this game."

"What do you-" Cynthia began, eyeing him suspiciously. Before she could even attempt to stop him, he hooked an arm under her knees and picked her up, carrying her bridal style to the leather couch on the other side of the room. He dropped her off and immediately took several steps back with his hands up in surrender.

"How dare you!" she fumed. "And give me back my nightstick!"

"Okay, c'mon- you couldn't manage another step…" Sam tried handing her the nightstick hesitantly. As soon as she had a hold of it, she threw it back at him angrily, hitting him in the wrist with a whack as he protected his face.

Still glaring at him, she pointed at the nightstick that was lying on the floor now, Matt and Riley gaping and Steven trying very hard not to laugh. "Pick it up."

Sam looked at the weapon unhappily, but did obey. "Yes… Ma'am," he said with a sigh and handed it back to her.

She accepted it with a scowl and set the stick across her lap, pursing her lips together. The glare and scowl not softening for a second, she did manage to say a grudging, "Thank you…"

"You're welcome…" Sam answered, still eyeing her suspiciously and stepping out of the way of the nurse coming in to take care of Cynthia's wounds.

Steven shook his head, chuckling quietly. "You always have the best entrances," he joked.

Sam grinned at him. "I try, I try… Actually, speaking of entrances- I am fashionably late because… And I'm only telling you this because I know you guys were all hung-up about my disappearance… But anyway- when that bomb went off, I was on my way out of those nasty bilge tunnels with gifts for you guys. But when that shockwave went through, Cat shot this rifle I found and did this-," he set his utterly destroyed cell phone on the table, "to my phone."

Steven's eyes widened. "Arceus!"

"Good news is, she didn't shoot me: Bad news is, I couldn't ease your worry… After that I figured I should probably at least try to clean myself up so I didn't smell and look like I'd spent four hours in a sewer slash bilge water tunnel and then almost blown up. And then I heard about Cynthia not being around yet and went to check on her and… Well, we've been together ever since," Sam explained.

Cynthia gave him a frosty and irritated glare, but the ghost of a smile gave away the fact that she was just a little bit amused by him.

Riley nodded slowly. "Sounds like you've had quite a day… I suppose you're still able to help me out with this whole bomb situation?"

Sam waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah… But before that… Why is there a random crying old lady and a guy who looks kinda like you on a _really_ bad day running around?" he asked.

"That… Would be my mom… And my brother," Riley responded with a shrug.

"Oh… … Why is _she_ here?" Sam asked.

Matt coughed. "So remember that bomb set up on Route… Frozen Hell? Yeah, so it blew up Riley's dad."

Sam nodded slowly and then looked at Riley. "Do you need to wallow in self-pity for a while or are you fine?"

"I'm fine," Riley responded. "I'll be better when those two go back home and away from me."

Steven shook his head. "That's terrible, Riley."

"I meant every word," Riley returned coldly. "Now- what happened in the tunnels? Were they destroyed?"

"Nah. It was just a few barrels… Blew up the secret basement of the Library, but beyond that those tunnels were built to take water coursing through a lot harsher than that. Other than some soot on the walls, it should be fine," Sam answered casually with a shrug.

"Secret basement…?" Riley repeated.

"Yeah- I'll explain later. It's kinda a long story there."

Steven pursed his lips and his face changed from overjoyed to see Sam back safe to grim. "Did you hear about Lake Valor?"

Sam shook his head. "No… I assume it's not good though."

"It's been destroyed. The bomb vaporized all the water and collapsed the island- dropping the cave to the lake floor. There are magikarp splashing around and part of the tunnels are exposed… It's a disaster," Steven explained, shaking his head slowly.

Sam nodded slowly with understanding. "I see… Well- the tunnels are still intact on this side. Open up the hatches on the tunnels and let the water pour in and let's get that lake back up."

"Not that simple," Riley responded. "The land on the northwest side has collapsed… We need to fix it."

"Well, get Bertha or somebody out there with ground or rock type pokémon. A well-organized team of pokémon can get that back up the way it was in a day easily. And then have Palmer plant a bunch trees, he's got plenty of energy for the job," Sam pointed out.

Riley shrugged. "Alright then… I suppose I'll start picking out a team…"

"I would also like to point out that we have a bit of a security issue," Matt said, raising his hand prior to get their attention. "I mean, Cyrus knew how to get a hold of Cynthia and even her fax machine…"

Cynthia looked up slowly. "I have been training an assistant… A boy named Ben. He is the one who betrayed me… Us."

Steven looked at her, his face gentle. "I'm sorry, Cynthia…"

"It's fine. I should have realized myself and sooner," she said with a dainty sniff as the nurse finished bandaging the bite wound on her leg.

"That was so _not _your fault, honey. You can't blame yourself," Matt told her. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"He's right, Cynthia. We all make mistakes…" Steven said reassuringly.

"Steven makes mistakes all the time," Sam added with a smirk and wink.

Riley rolled his eyes. "Alright, that's enough of that… I assume that Ben is no longer a problem?" Cynthia nodded quietly. "Then we won't worry about it. For now- I have a different concern: they knew who my father was. I assume that this is because of this 'old friend' that Team Galactic has found. How much should we assume they know?"

Sam frowned as he thought it over. "Normally, I wouldn't take the chance on you getting killed, but it's safe to say that if this 'friend' wanted you dead- you might actually be dead by now. I don't think they know who you are… They probably don't even know about your mom."

"… I'll get keep more bodyguards around and have someone keep an eye on her and Nathan just in case," Riley concluded with a sigh.

Sam nodded and looked up at Riley, seeming to wait for something. Riley saw the look and returned a confused stare. "This is the part where you tell me I'm going to Snowpoint, huh?"

Riley smiled with a shrug. "I didn't think I needed to tell you."

Sam wrinkled his nose with distaste. "I liked pretending that I could somehow avoid it."

"No such luck," Matt replied, giggling.

Steven stroked his chin, "Ah, yes… That's right. You _still _haven't been there yet…"

"No I have not and I'd like to keep it that way," Sam replied bitterly.

"Too bad… Now you have to go. Matt- you'll be staying here. I need you to make sure our communications are secure and work on finding Team Galactic's real headquarters."

"So… How soon do I need to leave?" Sam asked wearily.

"Get there tonight and take on Galactic tomorrow morning or something. Lucas is moving along at a fast pace and you should keep ahead of him as much as possible," Riley responded.

Sam made face. "Fine… I'll go freeze to death for you guys so you better be grateful."

Riley clapped him on the shoulder. "And once you're done, come back here and I'll find something else for you to do… I'm going to go work on my end of things- I'll see you later. Matt, come on. I'll show you where you can stay."

Matt got up quickly. "Well, it seems I'm under Riley's command now… With a bunch of my own techy kind… This will be fun!"

"You're going to leave Riley alone," Sam warned.

"Yes, yes, I won't do anything inappropriate to Riley. Yeesh… See you tomorrow, Sam," Matt said cheerfully before leaving. Steven had followed behind Matt and now stood in front of him.

"I was very worried about you…"

"I told Matt to tell you to stay away…" Sam answered.

Steven raised an eyebrow. "That didn't help anything… It just made me worry even more."

Sam shrugged. "Well…"

Steven put a hand on his shoulder in fatherly sort of way. "Take care of yourself… And dress warm for Route 217," he told him with a warm smile and a somewhat joking air.

"Yeah, yeah. Go back to Hoenn where you belong," Sam grumbled. Steven laughed and ruffled his hair before walking out the door, leaving just Sam and Cynthia.

Sam eyed her suspiciously. "Are you going to be okay?"

"… Yes." Sam hesitated, but decided he'd already pushed his luck for the day and turned to leave. She sighed. "Wait."

Sam paused and turned back. "Yeah?"

"Thank you… For… Doing what I couldn't…" she said hesitantly.

Sam nodded. "It's alright… Thanks for not killing me," he joked back. She scowled immediately. "Look, it's nothing to beat yourself up over. It isn't easy taking somebody's life- I understand," Sam told her, far more serious now.

She pursed her lips together and eyed him for a moment before sighing. "Help me up."

"Yes, ma'am," he responded quickly with grin as he returned to her side and pulled her up.

"Thank you… Now you are expected in Snowpoint tonight, go," Cynthia said in a very dignified manner as she limped past him. "I will gather a team with Riley's aid to take down the Headquarters in Veilstone. When you return, we'll discuss it further."

"Of course…" Sam said with mock salute, though she didn't see him. As soon as she left he made a face. "Yeah, I almost died, no big deal I'll just go freeze to death in Snowpoint, that's cool. Thanks for asking," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

The snow howled like a lone Mightyena over the icy tundra. Dawn walked next to Barry through the blizzard, his ice-coated scarf smacking her in the face now and then. She wrapped her pink coat around her tighter.

"Barry… I think we're lost…" she yelled above the wind.

Barry turned around and gazed into the vicious whiteout that surrounded them. "We're not lost! I know where we are!" Barry cried back and continued forging forward. Dawn followed quietly, trusting his judgment. She had taken care of Lake Acuity as the Professor had asked and Lucas had even come to help her out. Afterwards, they were both more than content to rest for the night as it was late even then. However, Rowan was a little worried about Barry and wanted her to go and find him. Barry was resting at the house just before the blizzard but once he'd seen Dawn and heard about Lucas helping her, he jumped up and ran outside saying that he needed to go to Lake Acuity as soon as possible.

Confused by his rush, she'd followed him. Now they were lost in a harsh wintery world with no one in sight in the darkness and it was getting impossibly cold. Looking up, Dawn saw a line of trees blocking their path.

"No… Well, maybe we're… Let's try going back!" Barry said, sounding unsure now.

Dawn nodded, but as she turned around, her foot caught on something and she fell face first into the snow. Barry ran forward and tried to help her up. "No! No, Barry, wait! My foot… It's stuck!"

Barry stopped and tried to dig through the snow discovering that her foot was lodged in a crumbled pile of bricks. He tried to move them but found that they were frozen together. As he tried to separate them, he found what appeared to be a picture frame and pulled it out carefully.

"Dawn… There used to be a house here," he breathed, distracted by the family portrait of the important-looking people.

"Barry… My foot…" she reminded him as she tried to separate the bricks herself. Barry shoved the picture in his pocket and tried pry the bricks apart.

"They're really frozen together… Hang on, I'll get my Infernape." He pulled out his Infernape's Poké Ball, but the ball would not open as ice had gathered on it now. "No, no, no!" Barry cried.

Dawn curled up in a ball as best as she could. "Barry… I'm so cold."

"It's okay I'll... I'll run and get help! Snowpoint can't be too far away!" Barry said decisively and jumping up. He barely made it a step before tripping in the snow himself with a panicked scream. As he started to get up, he saw the blue face of a Luxray. The pokémon turned around and howled loudly and soon enough its trainer appeared out of the snow.

"You…"

"You should consider yourself lucky that Michael heard you," Sam told Barry as he pulled him up.

"Dawn's foot is stuck in some bricks!" Barry told him quickly. Sam looked down at Dawn and then at the bricks.

"Alright- it's okay, Dawn." Michael tore at the bricks with heated fangs and separated them easily. Sam immediately picked her up out of the snow. "Dawn… Barry, what are you two doing out here?"

"We're trying to get to Snowpoint… I have to save Lake Acuity," Barry exclaimed.

Sam shook his head. "You're not going to get there heading east; Snowpoint is north… And you stay away from Team Galactic, Barry. They're dangerous."

"I have to! Lucas, he took care of Lake Valor!"

"You're not Lucas, Barry… Now come on, before you both freeze to death," Sam told him as he continued to carry Dawn through the snow, Barry trailing slowly behind him as Sam lead them through the trees, passing a black belt.

"Is she alright?" he asked, concerned for Dawn who was curled up quietly in Sam's arms.

"She will be… Snowpoint is just up here, isn't it?" Sam responded.

"Yeah- just follow the lakefront East…" he answered.

"Thank you," Sam said with a curt nod. They passed him and walked through the grass easily, Michael running head and snarling viciously at anything that got too close. Seeing the entrance to Lake Acuity, Barry considered going for it.

"Don't you dare," Sam warned, not even turning around. Now that they were out of the blizzard conditions, it was much easier to talk to each other.

"You really can put me down now," Dawn quipped, her voice shaking as her teeth chattered and she shivered. Sam paused, but he did set her down carefully.

"We're almost to Snowpoint- As soon as we get there, I'll let the nurses there take care of you since they're far more used to dealing with half-frozen trainers and then Michael will take you back to the Professor… You too, Barry."

"Of course," Dawn said quietly and obediently.

"But!"

"No, Barry, no arguing. Your father would kill me if anything happened to you," Sam said, cutting Barry short.

"Professor Rowan asked me to make sure Team Galactic doesn't do to Lake Acuity what they did to Lake Valor!"

Sam turned around and stared at the boy square in the eyes, "We'll talk about this later." Returning to face forward, he guided Dawn along beside him as they walked through the wintery forest right into Snowpoint City and to the Pokémon Center.

The nurse on duty looked up at them sharply, immediately sizing up their condition. "Travelers? … You picked a hell of a time to come out here," she commented with a whistle as she bustled forward, wrapping a thick fleece blanket around Dawn. "Come here, sweetheart. Let's get you near the fireplace and get you something warm to eat, you'll be alright."

Dawn nodded and snuggled into the blanket. "Thank you, ma'am."

"You too, boys. You look cold," the nurse offered.

Sam grinned. "That obvious?"

"The red, frostbitten cheeks and the snow-coated Luxray give it away… That and the shivering," she responded dryly.

Sam shrugged and followed her to a small pocket near a book shelf where a very nice, electric fireplace warmed the whole space. Dawn settled down beside it on a yellow cushion and the nurse fetched her some sweatpants to wear over her short shorts that she normally wore that were perfectly hidden under her pink coat. Michael plopped down beside her, warming his fur by the fireplace with a content growl. Dawn smiled cheerfully and pet his blue fur happily. Sam released Cat as well and she crawled around, pulling on Michael's ears and Dawn's hair.

Sam pulled off his gloves, stocking hat, boots, and his coat, setting them on the bookshelf and nudged Barry before walking to the opposite side of the lobby. Barry stood by, waiting for the lecture that he knew was probably coming as Sam rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.

"Barry…"

"Yes?" Barry answered meekly.

"Look… I talked to the couple in the Snowbound Lodge and they told me what happened. You've got a… macho rivalry with Lucas going- fine, whatever… He took on Galactic at Valor and Verity so you've got to go do whatever at Acuity. Whatever makes you feel better, kid," Sam began.

"It's not-" Barry argued.

"I am not done," Sam interrupted sternly and Barry shut his mouth sulkily. "As far as I'm concerned, it's normal. I've met Red and Blue personally and Ethan and Silver… They always had to one-up each other and you and Lucas are the same way. But this stunt could have gotten you killed. And not only that- you took Dawn out in that blizzard with you. How would you explain to her parents and Professor Rowan what happened if I hadn't found you?"

"I…" Barry looked down at the floor and sighed heavily with guilt. "I didn't mean to…"

"I know, but you need to consider your actions more before you go running off. Now, if you insist on going to Lake Acuity, you're going to need the badge from Candice- so go get it," Sam told him with warm smile and a wink, his voice less stern and far friendlier.

Barry nodded with smile. "Right away!" Without a second thought, he bolted from the Center and no doubt straight to Gym.

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "That little spitfire…" He went back to Dawn's side and the nurse came back balancing a tray with three steaming bowls of soup.

"Now where did that other boy go?" the nurse asked, looking around.

"He left… Gym challenger and all. I'm sure you know how it goes," Sam explained with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "The boy is going to freeze to death in that gym. I don't know how Candice stands it in there… Well, since the boy won't be here- you might as well have it," she finished petting Michael on the head and setting the bowl meant for Barry in front of him.

Michael sniffed the bowl and was going to eat it until Cat jumped on his head and smacked his nose into it. As he sputtered and growled, Cat clapped her hands cheerfully. Dawn giggled at their antics.

Sam shook his head. "Don't make a mess you two… Cat, you behave yourself." She squeaked indignantly at him.

"That's… Quite the Abra you've got there," the nurse commented.

Sam chuckled. "She's special…"

The nurse turned to disappear back into the kitchen with the tray when she caught sight of his hand that was laced with faint scars. "Have you broken your left hand in the past?"

"Hm? … Oh. Yeah, few years ago."

"Did they replace any of the bones?" she asked walking over quickly to look at his hand.

"Yeah… Bits and pieces of it, mostly in the palm of my hand," Sam explained, confused.

"Mmm… You need to make sure you keep your hand warm then. If it gets too cold, the metal will freeze and you can get internal frostbite and you don't want that, I promise," she said as she left.

Sam grimaced. "Oh joy, internal frostbite. That'll be the next thing…"

Dawn gave him a worried glance. "Arceus, I hope not! That would be terrible!"

Sam smiled at her and laughed. "Ah, I was just kidding. I have no intention of spending enough time outside for that to happen… Too cold for that."

Dawn giggled and watched the fire (however fake) dance in the hearth as she felt warmth return to her body and her eyelids started to feel very heavy. She yawned and let her eyes close, thinking that she'd just rest for a second.

She woke up to Sam shaking her awake. "Come on, Dawn… It's time for you to go home. The Professor is here to get you."

Her eyes flickered open. "The professor?"

"Miss Dawn you caused quite a stir. Your parents were worried sick about you. Now come along, let's get you home," Professor Rowan said stiffly as he offered his hand.

She accepted his hand and got up sleepily. Sam was pulling his coat back on. "What time is it?"

"Past midnight," Rowan answered. "Bedtime for a young lady like yourself." He released his Alakazam with a curt nod at Sam. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it… I'll see you around, Dawn. Stay out of trouble," he told her with a grin.

She smiled back at him before disappearing as the Alakazam used teleport. Sam looked down at Michael. "Well… Time to go back outside, I guess." Trying not to think about it too much, he headed for the door and only allowed himself a moment's hesitation before walking out into the snow-covered city.

As he started to reach for the ice-laden handle of the Gym doors, Sam heard Barry's loud cheering and running. He stepped quickly to avoid being trampled as the door slammed open.

"I got my badge!" Barry shrieked excitedly at him before sprinting to the Pokémon Center to crash for the night.

Sam watched him quietly before rubbing the ear that Barry had practically screamed into. Muttering about the rudeness, he walked inside. One of the Gym trainers walked across the ice as soon as he saw him.

"I'm Sergio," the man introduced himself politely. "Candice has been waiting for you. Come with me."

* * *

**AN: **... I don't feel like being crazy today... Sorry if you look forward to reading my insane ramblings.

Thank you to my good friend and excellent beta, **DarkAngelTorchic**!

*Sinnoh Info: Sinnoh will have 22 chapters total (counting the Epilogue) After Sinnoh, Sam will go to Unova and it will be set in the original Unova, _not_ the sequels. More information will be offered once Chapter 18 is published.

** Also! (I know, right?) I wrote a horror shot about... ... _Magikarp. _... And _succeeded. _I'm torn between telling to you read it and warning you not to. You won't look at them the same way. It's kinda sad. It will be published on Halloween if you want to read it.

**Thank you for reading and for all the wonderful reviews last week!**

**See you next Friday!  
**


	16. Chapter 16

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

As soon Barry left, Candice had promptly plopped down on her teal, plush platform and waited, knowing that someone named Sam was supposed to come. She hadn't met him before, but she'd heard of him. Her good friend Brenna sat on the stairs with her. Candice clutched the blue bow on her shirt and fell back, lying down now.

"What do you think he looks like?" she wondered aloud.

Brenna smoothed out her long black hair stroked the fur on her collar. "Hmm… Tall, dark, and handsome?"

Candice giggled. "That would be…"

"Candice?"

Startled by the man's voice suddenly beside her, she bolted upright. He extended his gloved hand to her with a charming smile. "Hi, I'm Sam."

"Hiya!" she exclaimed, shaking his hand warmly and returning a wide smile. "Yep, I'm Candice! So- are we going to take care of these horrid grunts or not?"

Sam chuckled. "Oh, we are. Make no mistake… But do you want to change into something a little warmer?" he asked with a pointed stare at her skirt.

"Nope! Candice is perfectly A-okay to do this," she told him cheerfully.

Sam shrugged. "Well, if you say so… So where are the grunts holed up here?"

"By the dock. There's some steel containers meant for a container ships that I found a few months ago- grunts have been in there for a while freezing their butts off," she explained, pointing in direction of the docks.

"Alright, well, let's not waste any time then." He started to walk back to the door.

Candice hopped down off the platform and slid on the ice as gracefully as an ice skater on her moccasin-like shoes. "So… How much did you hear of our other conversation?" she asked him, a blush coming to her porcelain white cheeks.

Sam smirked. "Oh, all of it… Too bad for you but I'm taken."

"Well, that doesn't surprise me," Candice remarked with giggle as she pranced outside into the snow.

Sam followed, not near as happy about it as she was. "You really like the snow out here _that _much?" he asked incredulously as she scooped some up and threw it in air around her.

Candice flashed a brilliant white smile at him, her black hair collecting the falling snow and her light, chestnut brown eyes bright. "I love the snow!"

Sam shook his head with disbelief and disapproval. "I can't imagine why…"

"You don't like the snow?" Candice asked disbelievingly.

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Hey now, I'm from Hoenn. We don't have snow in Hoenn and I fail to see how you can have a town where it's this cold... Why anyone would want to live here is beyond me."

Candice scrunched up her nose and giggled. "You're funny."

"Funny? … Huh, that's a new one. Most people just say I'm strange," Sam commented thoughtfully. Candice bounded through the snow past a crane that seemed frozen to the spot.

Flitting around as carefree as a butterfly, Candice jumped onto the white wall and spread her arms wide to balance herself as she skipped along the top. Sam walked beside her, mildly impressed that she could be bright and playful as late… Well, early as it was in the morning.

"I love the nighttime here… The snow reflects the starlight and all the colors of the sky," Candice told him wistfully, looking up at the sky. Sam walked around the white fence and into the shipyard filled with the massive iron crates. Candice looked down at him and smiled. "Catch?"

Sam looked at her expecting to throw something at him. "Catch what?"

"Me!" she leapt off the wall and Sam, though ill prepared, did catch her… And then immediately set her on the ground.

"Please don't ever do that again…" Sam said with a sigh.

Candice giggled and flounced away for only a few steps before freezing suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Sam asked tentatively.

"I can hear someone talking…"

Sam walked closer to her and started pulling out his dagger and listened intently, hearing the same female voice Candice did.

"Listen up, you grunts… Cyrus has ordered us to go to Lake Acuity and capture the Lake Guardian there no matter what it takes." As Sam crept closer to an open boxcar he saw the woman with purple hair that he recognized as the Commander. "So tonight, we leave to capture the legendary pokémon of the lake! For the New World!" Jupiter cried.

A ragged cheer rose from the men who were huddled together in the back, shivering from the cold. Sam treaded a little closer. _There's another one… Another woman running around with almost nothing on and not even the least bit affected by it…_ He mused to himself dryly as_ h_e leaned against the edge of the large metal box silently taking in the scene.

Candice leapt up beside him, practically right into the small camp of Galactic grunts, startling everyone (including Sam) as she proclaimed, "You'll never see your new world! You don't have the focus! Candice knows how to focus, so prepare to lose!"

Sam was going to take the time to face palm when he saw Jupiter draw back her foot and prepare to strike the girl. Quickly, he pulled her out of the way and jumped in front of her to take on Jupiter.

Purple eyes glared at brown as they sized each other up. Jupiter raised her thin eyebrows. "You…"

"And you," Sam returned with a growl. "What's your name again? Jupiter, was it?"

She narrowed her violet eyes, not answering him. "You've been disrupting our plans for awhile now… I think it's time you finally got put out."

"Umm… Sorry, Sam," Candice quipped from behind him.

"Don't worry about it Candice, take care of these grunts- I'll take care of Jupiter."

Candice nodded and released her pokémon, her cheerful aura turning very serious as she stepped into the role of Gym Leader easily.

Jupiter cursed under her breath before yelling aloud: "Wake up! We're under attack!" Sam barely took a step for her when she shot off, weaving between the cars, forcing him to chase her. Slowly and groggily, more grunts stumbled from the containers. Some of them went to fight Candice, others had already heard the 'new world' speech and ran for Lake Acuity.

Sam tried to get through the surge of humans so he wouldn't lose sight of Jupiter. She turned sharply between two crates. Muttering curses under his breath he turned a few seconds after her. Despite the fact that he hadn't been too far behind her, she was now gone and in the darkness it was hard to see any footprints. He ventured forward carefully, listening for any noise that gave her away.

He heard the slight creak but did not react near fast enough. She reached out and grabbed him by the hood of his jacket and slammed his ear right into the metal car. As bells rang unforgivingly in his ear, he staggered, his equilibrium off. Jupiter grabbed him again, this time towards the ground. He caught himself, vaguely realizing that his hands were on the floor of the crate. As she jumped out, Jupiter grabbed the dagger that had spun from his grasp.

"Not as good as you thought, huh?" she jeered as she grabbed the door to the boxcar and slammed it back on him as hard as she could. Sam heard the harsh squeal as the door barreled towards him as he started to get up. With a merciless thud, it slammed into his ribcage. He gasped sharply as he felt the intense, stabbing pain of a broken rib.

He pushed the door back clumsily and finally got his feet back underneath him, blood dripping from his a cut above his ear. "Arceus damn that purple-haired bitch," he growled under his breath, searching for a sign of her yet again. Seeing a rusted ladder leading up to the tops of the crates, Sam climbed up it and looked around, not seeing her. Knowing that wasn't a good sign, he looked for anything he may have missed. He saw Candice's Abomasnow hurling logs and chunks of ice and her Weavile darting around as the Froslass stood back and unleashed icy wrath on any grunt she saw, but he didn't see Candice anywhere.

Looking towards the city he saw a few fleeing grunts and he heard the tell-tale noise behind him that signaled Jupiter's return with a not quite so sneaky sneak-attack. Hearing her stop, he whipped around and caught her foot as she went to kick him. Her eyes widening with surprise, Sam twisted the foot, forcing her to fall as he stood up.

Breathing heavily as he was exhausted from the trek to Snowpoint City and other previous misadventures. "You're not too shabby for a Galactic Commander," he observed, actually complimenting her.

"Of course. I was trained by the best: I was mentored by Cyrus," Jupiter snarled at him vehemently.

"Cyrus? I thought he was just a figure head with some tough friends," Sam said stepping back as she got up slowly and glared at him with hatred. He thought back to the first time he'd seen Cyrus and realized that the man actually _did_ look like he was well-built.

"Cyrus is brilliant fighting master… He taught us himself and he's better than you for sure, you little brat."

Sam watched her carefully. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. Your precious boss is losing ground, don't forget that."

Her fist clenched on his dagger tightly and her eyes flashed with anger. "Don't look down on him!"

Fuelled by anger, she rushed forward rashly. Sam immediately grabbed her hand with and twisted it since she had such a white-knuckle grip on it. Holding back a scream of pain, she dropped the dagger and it fell to the ground. Sam was going to reach for it, but Jupiter kicked it off the container before weaseling away from him while he was distracted.

Sam sighed wearily. "Clever…"

Jupiter wiped some saliva from the corner of her chafed, purple lips with the back of her hand, glowering at him. "Anger is what made me slip up… It won't happen again. When Master Cyrus gets his new world, I will be perfect… Finally. A world without emotions… Without sadness, anger, or pain."

"And cold?" Sam added hopefully. "If he can get rid of cold, I might consider letting him live."

Jupiter glared at him with contempt. "No. 'Cold' is not included."

"Damn… Well then I guess I can't let you guys carry on with your plan then. After all, that gets rid of joy too. Seems like the world would be pretty dull and listless without that."

"It doesn't matter what you think- you won't live to see it!" Jupiter snapped at him, crouching down to pounce at him. Both were startled to hear the roar of the crane's engine as it came to life in the hands of a woman in Team Galactic's uniform.

She started working the crane easily; raising the hook- the hook being attached to the box they were standing on. As it rose in the air, the uneven weight distribution caused the steel container to start tipping. Sam quickly took steps closer to the center and Jupiter leapt forward to join him.

With little care for the steel container's balance, she lashed out at him with a heavy punch, which he ducked to avoid.

"Are you crazy?" he yelled at her over the thundering engine of the crane.

Saying nothing, she snapped her knee up, almost catching him in the jaw but he managed to move out of the way. She whirled around on her heel, hitting him with a hard backslap across his cheek. As she turned to face her, Sam delivered an open-hand strike with the palm of his hand right into her chin. Jupiter retaliated with an attempt of an uppercut. She missed, grazing his cheek instead. As she stumbled backwards, the container started to tip that way as the grunt in control of the crane moved the box higher and closer to the sea.

As much as Sam was tempted to let Jupiter fall, if the box tipped over, they'd both end up in the frigid water. He took several steps backwards so the box was even again.

Jupiter caught her balance finally and rubbed her sore jaw ruefully. Sam could see the glint in her intense purple eyes as she contemplated pouncing on him again. _Two can play at that game. _Step by step, he inched forward, forcing Jupiter to move closer to him or risk falling off into the rolling icy seas.

Once she was close enough, Jupiter dropped to one knee and extended her leg for a vicious leg sweep in hopes of catching him off balance. Sam jumped into the air, dodging Jupiter's foot and spinning 360 degrees as he did so. He was almost horizontal before hitting Jupiter with the heel of his boot right at the base of her neck. Before he hit the top of the ground, he put his hands behind his head and flipped backwards. Jupiter was up in no time and aimed a basic kick at this chest. He caught her foot easily, but she twisted in his grip and her other boot collided with the back of his head.

He dropped her and she fell in an ungainly heap on the ground. It lasted only a few seconds before she was up again. Her eyes looked past him and looking at the crane and a look of confusion spread across her face. Sam, knowing that it could be a trick, turned to look anyway and saw Candice and her Weavile attacking the cab of the crane and suddenly the crane moved suddenly as the operator accidentally hit a lever. The great steel container swung on the hook and both Sam and Jupiter stumbled a bit.

Sam tried to stay on his feet, but Jupiter decided to use his unsure footing to her advantage. She lunged not at him, but past him grabbing the hook before flipping to give him a savage kick to the back of his knee. With no way to stop himself, Sam dropped on his knee hard.

"Son of a…"

Jupiter lashed out with a well-aimed punch at his ribs, hitting the broken one. Ignoring the pain for a moment, he turned around and caught Jupiter's head and slammed it into the snow and metal under his feet viciously before standing up and stepping back. Feeling the box shift under he feet, he realized that one more step would put him in danger of tipping the box. Jupiter dazedly got up, holding her head.

As she tried to stand, the steel container lurched again and Sam saw the Galactic grunt thrown from the cab of crane. While that solved one problem, it left him in a new predicament: he was fairly certain that Candice didn't know how to operate a crane properly and if he took so much as one step backwards, he could end up in some serious trouble.

Looking back at Jupiter who was clearly gearing back to attack, he adopted a wide stance for better balance on top of the box and put his fists up, guarding his face and chest in favor of defense.

With a ragged cry of anger and pain, Jupiter came at him again with a flurry of kicks and punches. Sam blocked or caught all punches and most of her kicks, further infuriating her. She lifted her foot up as if for a strike at his chest, but it was a feint and instead her boot slammed into his leg above his knee. As Candice played with the controls, the box jerked roughly. The crane stopped abruptly over the snow on the other side of the cargo lot, causing the box to swing on the hook.

As the box swung side to side, Jupiter did finally start to really lose her balance and in her desperation to stay on, she latched onto Sam long enough to regain her footing before kicking his foot out from under him and then slamming her elbow ruthlessly into his shoulder as he fell. And this time he didn't have an opportunity to catch himself so he rolled off the box instead. He landed on his side in the snow with a dull thump.

Candice seemed to figure the controls enough that she got the container back down, though notably out of line and facing backwards now. As soon as the box was safe on the ground, Jupiter leapt from it to the green ones and left for Lake Acuity with a loud cackle. Candice messed with the controls more, leaving the crane more towards the ocean and the hook hovering above the second red box.

"Sam! Sam?! Are you okay?" Candice hollered at him from the crane as she got out of the cab hurriedly.

In no hurry to get up off the ground, Sam continued to lay there but he waved at Candice as she approached.

"I'm so sorry… Candice isn't very good at operating a crane," she told him with grimace.

"Ah, it's fine… Help me up, though, will you?" Sam asked with a wry smile and extended his hand. Candice grabbed it and tried to help, but he really just wanted her to help him keep his balance. Once he had his feet back under him, he waved her on. "Go get your pokémon- you'll probably have to battle Lucas tomorrow."

Candice smiled cheerfully and flounced off to collect them. Sam limped past the rows of red steel containers searching for his dagger. Seeing a faint glint in the shadows he ventured to it and found the blade buried halfway into steel. He pulled it out and sheathed it.

"I'll have to sharpen it now… Next time I've got free time. Pfft. What am I saying?_ Free time_? I have free time like birds have gills," he muttered under his breath bitterly. He was walking up the stairs when Candice pranced up to his side, smiling jubilantly.

"So, do you need a place to spend the night?" she asked with a very innocent smile.

Sam shook his head with a dry laugh. "Yeah… But I took a bit of a beating back there so I'm stopping at the Pokémon Center first. I can take your pokémon with me if you want." _And it's a hell of a lot warmer in the Pokémon Center compared to your gym._

"Of course! Well, Candice will prepare the guest room for you! And here's my pokémon," she said cheerfully, handing him her bag.

"Yeah… Actually, I need to 'visit' the Snowpoint Temple tomorrow morning, can you arrange that for me?" Sam asked, hoping she would say 'yes' so he wouldn't have to break in.

She tapped a finger on her lips as she mulled it over. "Well… I guess it couldn't hurt. I mean, people aren't supposed to go in because of some stuffy old rules, but since you're a part of the Guild, I bet it's fine," she explained cheerfully.

Standing in front of the doors to her gym, Sam gave her a good pat on the shoulder as he walked past her to the Pokémon Center. "See you later, Candice."

"Good night!" she exclaimed, her small voice unheard by the city's sleeping inhabitants.

Sam waved his hand in acknowledgement as he kept walking towards the refuge with the glowing Poké Ball sign on the front: a beacon of hospitality. The glass door slid open for him, the frost making it a little slow. The nurse looked up, the same one from earlier; a calm woman with rust-colored hair and iron-gray eyes.

"You back again?" she drawled, flipping to the next page of her magazine.

Sam smiled charmingly at her. "My fair lady, I couldn't help but return-"

"Save your flattery for your pretty floozies," she returned, cutting him short in a bored tone. But she looked up with a tiny smile after he said nothing back with a twinkle in her eye. "What can I do you for?"

As he walked up to the counter, he took off his hat and jacket and ruffled the tufted head of the Center's Psyduck. "Nothing... But I may have gotten into a scrape with some… guys." _Or one girl. Same thing sometimes._

She eyed him as he released Michael and Cat from their poké balls. "Didn't know we had gang fights along here… But maybe that's why my daughter didn't want to work tonight… " she mused aloud as she grabbed items from the white box on the counter.

A blonde girl wearing a cropped orange top scooted closer at the mention of a fight. "Who did you get in a scuffle with?"

"Team Galactic," he answered nonchalantly.

The nurse crawled up on the counter and then sat primly and motioned for Sam to come over to her. "Humph. If it's those fools, I hope you beat 'em good."

"Well, unfortunately, they beat me good too," Sam answered with a sigh as the nurse cleaned the blood away from the gash over his ear.

"Yeah, they got you good here… Arceus, boy," she shook her head in open disapproval. "What else is wrong with you?"

"Definitely a cracked rib… And a lot of bruises."

"Well, nothing I can do for a cracked rib or bruises. Just take it easy for a few days, that'll be the best thing," she answered pursing her thin lips together as she finished cleaning the wound and applied a clear paste to seal the wound and keep it clean.

"Of course… Actually- what do you know about the Temple?"

"I know you're not supposed to go inside," the nurse answered dryly.

Sam chuckled. "Yes, I know that too. I'm asking more along what's inside?"

The nurse sighed as she swung her legs back over the counter and washed her hands. "I hear it's nothing like a temple inside, but it got its name from old tribes and it stuck. No one goes inside because there's supposed to be something dangerous in there."

"I see…" he said thoughtfully, stroking his chin and realizing that he needed to shave again.

"Oh, I've seen that look before… You be careful about what you get yourself into. You gonna come up missing if you're not careful and I don't want to see you again after today, a'right?"

Sam smiled. "Of course."

"Now, give me Candice's bag so I can take care of her Pokémon," she responded, holding her hand out expectantly.

Sam gave her the bag and she arranged them on the machine that every Pokémon Center had. Even watching as the pokéballs flashed, he couldn't figure out how it worked.

As she set the second half up and put the other six away, Sam did finally ask. "So… How does that thing work?"

She looked up at him. "Mm? What, this old thing? You set the pokéball in the slot and it lets loose a healing gas that gives the pokémon all their needed vitamins and whatnots, makes them more restful, takes the all the edge off their wounds, and replenishes their energy."

"That sounds almost too good to be true…" Sam commented. "I'd say that's magic."

"I'm a magician now, eh? I'll have to tell my daughter that… Buy myself a witch hat," she joked she returned the bag to him.

He took the bag from her and shook her hand warmly with the other. "Thank you, have a wonderful night."

"Yeah, yeah. I don't ever want to see you again, boy. Git out," she said, waving him on.

With a laugh, he turned around and left as she said, shooing Cat and Michael in front of him. Just as he had just walked out the door when he heard a metallic clink. Turning around he saw the nurse lighting up a cigarette.

She saw him gaping at her with complete astonishment and raised an eyebrow as she took a drag of her cigarette. "What?"

The door closing in front of his face didn't even snap him out of his stupefied state Michael pulled on his coat and growled at him. Sam looked down at him, still in disbelief. "I can't… Did you see that?!"

Michael gave him a sarcastic look. Sam allowed himself to be pulled along by Michael as Cat frolicked around excitedly in the snow. He stopped in his tracks right outside the Gym

"I have got to call Steven…" he pulled his phone out as he held the door open for Cat and Michael.

Candice was right inside and she took her bag from him. Seeing his phone out, her eyes widened. "Oh! Do you need to call someone?"

Sam glanced at her. "Uh… Yeah. I do."

"Well, your cell won't work. We don't get a very good signal up here with all the snow, but I've got a phone that you can use! Come with Candice!" She clasped her hands around his arm and guided him to the back where her plush-carpeted, blue platform was. With a press of a button on a small handhold control, the platform raised to the upper loft where her home was.

The loft was well furbished with plush white furniture on the dark hardwood floors, padded with blue floor rugs. The walls were white or some shade of blue and one wall held a mural of snow falling. Sam kicked off his boots and hung up his coat on a coat rack, laying his hat, gloves, and scarf over another hook carefully, and brushing the snow off himself before following her, not wanting to track whatever he may have on his boots anywhere.

She disappeared into her house for a moment before realizing that she'd lost him and popped back from the corner she'd taken. "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, hang on!" he started to follow, but stopped to look back at Michael and Cat sternly. "Don't move and, more importantly, don't touch anything. You hear me?"

Cat nodded in her typical, jovial way and Michael gave him a real nod of understanding. Wasting no more time, Sam walked quickly to follow Candice. She led him through to her spotless kitchen to a wall where a phone was hanging. Not a cell phone, but a phone. A legit, classic phone right down to the long spiral cord.

"Are you sure that thing still works?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah! It's got an underground wire deal that links to a cell tower far away from the snow! It's the only phone in the whole area that works!" she proclaimed proudly.

Sam gave it a second glance. "If you say so…"

"Are you going to call the Boss? Cuz if you do, tell him that Candice going to try very hard not to lose to Lucas! Okay? Okay?"

Sam smiled at her as he picked up the phone and tried to remember what his number to call Riley was, cursing his cell phone for making it so he didn't remember these things anymore. "Right, will do."

"Oh! And there's an extra room by the doorway that you can have! Sometimes, Candice's sister comes here and she usually stays there, but you can have it tonight," she told him with a bright smile. "Now, Candice has to go to bed! Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Candice," he said, managing a warm smile. As soon as she left he stopped smiling. "Thank Arceus… Wake up tomorrow less cheerful please." After looking at the number tattooed on his chest to make sure he was right, he dialed his ID number and was immediately patched through to Riley's phone.

"Sam? … Why aren't you calling my cell?" Riley said almost as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Because I'm in Snowpoint City," Sam replied dryly.

"… Right. Bad cell signal... Do you need something?"

"Well, for starters, I have managed to kick Team Galactic out of Snowpoint City… So now they're at Lake Acuity… Which is not really an improvement," Sam observed flatly.

"No, not really. They're after the legendary pokémon of the lakes and Cynthia says that whatever they're doing has the potential to be very, very bad," Riley returned with a sigh.

"Great. Well, anyway, Candice wanted me to tell you that she is going to try very hard not to lose to Lucas…"

"… … Okay? … Do you need anything else or can I get back to work?"

"I need to talk to Steven for a very quick moment. Is he there?" He heard Riley sigh again and hand the phone over.

"You've reached Steven," he greeted. "But I'm really busy helping Riley so make it quick."

"Yeah, yeah. I know… So I was just at the Pokémon Center and this older lady... Probably your age actually, was the nurse there and when I was walking out… She lit up a cigarette. Have you ever seen a _nurse _light one up? Because I haven't and it was even in the building."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious… Her name was… Margie or something like that. I never saw it coming," Sam said as Steven started chuckling.

"That's awesome… I've never heard of that before. I'll have to tell Matt to look her up for me so I know what she looks like."

"Do it! I guess her daughter normally works there so tell me why she quit or what happened, alright?"

"Yeah, you'll be back tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I'll get up early and deal with the Temple and head right back. I'll probably be there by ten o'clock."

"Great because you know the local thieves better than anyone and we could use your input on what to do with these guys."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Of course you guys need me. What would you do without me? Anyway, goodnight, Steven, you shouldn't stay up so late." Hearing Steven start to protest his last comment, Sam hung up on him and returned to the living room where Michael had Cat by the tail to prevent any roaming.

He motioned for them to follow him as he found the guest bedroom that was more like a suite that Candice had mentioned. Michael and Cat immediately fought over who was going to sleep where on the bed, typical for them. Sam shook his head with a weary sigh as he looked at the clock that was reminding him that it was three in the morning now.

"What do think, guys. Four hours of sleep? Or be selfish and take five?" Sam mused aloud. He listened to their fighting and counted Cat's resulting squeaks, only hearing four. "Damn… Four it is."

* * *

Cyrus looked at the two fairy pokémon smugly, Saturn standing by his side quietly.

"The being of emotion and the being of willpower… And the gems to create the Red Chain that will summon and bind Palkia and Dialga. At that time, I will be in power!" Cyrus proclaimed darkly, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

Azelf growled at him, a burning glint of determination in its eyes.

Cyrus gave it a look of contempt. "Your willpower won't help you here… Nothing can help you."

Saturn looked into the golden eyes of the resolute pokémon, seeing the unyielding will to fight against what they were doing. The twin tails of the pokémon twisted and whirled, the red gems flashing in the light. Saturn looked away, not ever wanting to see compliance in the eyes of that pokémon. He couldn't even bear looking at the extreme sadness and pain in the eyes of Mesprit. Charon, however, reveled in the pain of the two.

Running a hand through his blue hair wearily he contemplated his part in things so far. _What have I done? And can it be undone? _Suddenly, he found a small part of himself hoping that Lucas could indeed stop them.

* * *

**AN: **The Regigigas temple... It's up next, me hearties. It is... The last random non-storyline chapter of Sinnoh! You guys are probably relieved to hear that! 18, 19, 20 are CRAZY. 21 is super sad, may or may not make you cry and the Epilogue... It's interesting. Then, of course, we will be moving into Unova! I'm thinking that it will be the first Unova with elements of Unova v.2, but I seriously need to play the game first.

Big thank you to my friend and beta, **DarkAngelTorchic!** She has a wonderful fan fic herself that you will probably enjoy.

**Thank you for reading and for the reviews last week!**


	17. Chapter 17

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

The golden sun rose slowly in the pink sky, turning the city's snow a pink color streaked with blue shadows. So early in the morning, the sun's rays had not yet bestowed the city with at least a pittance of their warmth. Dusting off the loose snow like a feather with dust, a cold wind breezed through, whistling between the heavy trees cradling the frozen city. Every breath in stung like a hundred tiny, iced needles in the frosty morning, and every breath out was a plume of steam.

However, the beauty of this dawning hour in Snowpoint City was lost on Sam. His boots made dull crunching noises as he walked through the shallow snow towards the Temple, standing proudly as a monolithic tribute to an ancient time and even more primordial power: Regigigas. Sam had wanted far more sleep than he'd gotten (if an hour even counted as sleeping in the first place) but Cat had proved an impatient force of motivation to get up earlier, much to Sam and Michael's dejection.

As soon as they passed the Gym, Cat bounded off into the snow joyfully. Michael growled with irritation at her happiness. "Hey, at least one of us is enjoying themselves," Sam remarked in response.

They watched as Cat reached the wooded passage to the Temple with a bound… And then disappeared with a poof of snow. Sam and Michael both paused, startled, before rushing forward a little bit to help her before she bounded right back out like a rocket, landing in a plume of snow again. Michael snorted and sighed before leaping in after her as a luxray, but Sam couldn't help but laugh as she leapt around in the deep snow like a little deer.

Deciding that dropping into five feet snowdrifts would not be fun, he'd made a wise investment in snowshoes to use for all of ten seconds to walk freely through town. He appreciated the shoes even more watching Michael struggle with the deep snow as well, Cat hanging out of his jaws. He growled at the intervening snow as Cat squealed.

Once the shadow of the Temple touched the snow, it was shallow enough and frozen so it was possible to walk on it without sinking several feet. Sam took the snowshoes off his boots and threw them aside for later use and Michael dropped Cat on the ground unceremoniously. Less than pleased, she promptly began complaining and scolding him. Sam ignored them and walked up to the tall woman in the solid orange outfit, her long black hair thick enough to be immovable by the soft wind. She stood guarding the large rectangular doorway that was easily twelve-feet-tall. On either side of the door, two pillars held up the roof. Small circles jutted from their marble surfaces, but if they actually meant anything was beyond Sam's knowledge. They looked like the same pattern as on the Regi-trio.

As he approached the woman, she snapped her gaze to him immediately. "Only the chosen may enter the Snowpoint Temple. I'm sorry, but you will have to leave," she told him, her gravelly voice sharp with command.

Sam smiled at her. "Oh, it's okay. I have a pass from Candice."

Her ice gray eyes widened and she stepped aside wordlessly. Sam started to walk past her, Michael and Cat passing him excitedly, but stopped. "Hey, what can you tell me about this temple?"

"The temple is said to have been built in ancient times. It pays homage to the pokemon of rock, ice, and steel that shape the land. So it is told," she recited dutifully.

"Right, thank you," he patted her on the shoulder heartily before turning and walking up the flight of stairs into the main cavern. From the outside, soft blue light filtered in, illuminating the doorway. Sam looked around, hearing the soft drops of water leaking somewhere. It wasn't much colder here than it was outside and there was a faint breeze coming from somewhere. To his left, three marble pillars clustered next to each other held up the roof of the whole temple and two on the right and the spread out pile of sand that may have been another between them. But more importantly and far more eye-catching, dead ahead, standing twice his height and its marble head almost touching the ceiling, was a marble statue, its arms crossed on its chest like a sarcophagus. Little blue gems lined its face and body and something was illuminating it from below, giving it a chilling appearance.

Cat crept closer to it slowly, sniffing to ensure it wouldn't move. Michael's hackles were raised as he glared at the statue suspiciously and looked at Sam for confirmation.

"It's alright, guys… It's just a statue. A really cool statue, at that," he added as he walked closer to it carefully since there was no telling how slick the floor was. He had to crane his head back to see the head of the statue standing at the base of it. Looking slowly back down and examining the blue, slate marble surface carefully, his gaze finally landed back at his feet, a sharp white light emanating from it from an unknown source. Sam knelt down and fingered the edge, taking care not to blind himself looking into the light. Seeing and feeling nothing in the rocks, he stepped back and the breeze hit him with a truly frigid blast. Started and chilled to the bone by the sudden cold that was already gone, he turned around slowly in a 360, his eyes searching the blue-rock walls for any crack or window to explain the strange wind.

"That was weird…" he grumbled, pulling his outer jacket a little tighter. Taking one more moment to gaze up at the face of the statue, he walked towards the stairs, carrying Cat in his arms and Michael following closely at his heels. Sam was forced to tread very carefully and slowly as the stairs descended into darkness and he could no longer see if there was ice on the stone steps or not.

_This staircase is too long for this kind of thing…_ Using the wall as a means of support, Sam almost fell when the wall suddenly gave away. After cursing several times and taking a moment to regain his self-composure, he reached his hand back, trying to figure out why his wall was gone. He leaned so far he almost fell.

Michael gazed into what Sam could only decipher to be darkness with his sharper eyes. _"There's a hole there."_

"A hole?" Sam repeated looking from Michael's stoic face to the 'wall'. He knelt down and reached just a little past his shoe, feeling the edge of the stairs and then the drop off. "Well, who knew? There is _seriously_ a drop off there… One we don't want to fall into, so let's just keep walking."

Looking forward again, he continued making his way down the stairs. On the third to last stair, he felt something drop a little bit and a distinct clicking noise. Mentally berating himself for setting off a trap, he prepared for some kind of weapon to come at him, instead he heard a strange fizzing noise and suddenly the room lit up. Sam flinched at the sudden light and looked around for any light source around the walls but saw nothing that appeared to emanate the white light.

"I swear… These people were too advanced for their own good," he said bitterly as he continued to look around him. Stumped he looked up at the ceiling and saw lines of neon while that streaked through the rock like veins. Sam spread his arms out and looked at Cat with disbelief. "Why can't we have something like this? Why are they so advanced?!"

Cat mocked his gesture, squeaking in agreement, though she had no idea what he said. Sighing and remarkably irritated by the ancient yet futuristic lighting, he resolved to just keep moving. The room was notably U-shaped with a lot of boulders laying around and, of course, no frozen temple was complete without a hazardous ice-patch or ten. Wordlessly, he trekked down the long flight of stairs and once again triggered the lights overhead.

Once again, the room was U-shaped, in fact, it was the exact same shape and size as the room above, there was just more in it in regards to the pointless and irritating maze of boulders strewn about. He found himself entirely not in the mood to entertain the maze and climbed over the rocks. Just as he was about to take the stairs down even further, the walls surrounding him randomly caught his attention.

"You know… I don't think I've ever seen rock like this… I didn't even know you could get such a blue color…" He leaned close to the rocks and inspected the surface. "I don't think it's limestone. Ah, Steven would know." He turned around for a nod of confirmation from Michael and Cat only to find that they'd left him and continued down the stairs.

"Or I can just stand around and talk to myself. That's cool… Whatever," he grumbled as he broke a piece of the blue rock and tucked it into his pocket before following them quickly. About halfway down the stairs, he heard Cat's panicked squeaking. Worried, he rushed down the remaining stairs to see what was wrong- thinking that perhaps she had made fast enemies with some big wild pokémon, though in reality, the cave barely held anything more than a flock of golbat that clung to the ceiling.

Sam spotted her immediately and proceeded to sigh wearily at the same time as Michael and they both shook their heads with disapproval. Cat had not managed to anger another pokémon, rather she'd apparently slid across the ice and ran into a jynx, who then proceeded to dance with Cat (apparently).

"I swear, I can't turn around for two seconds without her doing something," Sam observed, watching the jynx skate past holding Cat by the paws as her unwilling dance partner. "Do you think we should help her?" Sam asked dryly, exchanging a glance with Michael, who snorted in reply.

"Guess not…" The jynx spun around on the ice, graceful as any ice skater. Cat protested louder as she whirled around.

"_Maester! Cat no iz wahnting dis! Halp!" _

Sam sighed, immediately guilt-tripped as she cried out to him. "I'm coming… Geez." He tested how slick the ice was with his boot, finding that his boot didn't slide at all since it was designed to have perfect traction anyway, but he didn't trust it that much.

As the Jynx started another lap, now holding Cat up in the air, singing happily. Sam stood by patiently and when she passed him, he snatched a flailing Cat from her hands. The Jynx stared at him with wide eyes. He patted her on her 'blonde' head. "Sorry, I'd love to let her stay here, you two make a wonderful dancing show, but I need to go now." With a final pat on the wild pokemon's head, he left her, and walked straight across to the stairs. The jynx stood in the middle of the ice by herself, completely baffled. Michael sneered at her as he stalked past.

Sam had hoped that perhaps the next floor was the last, but as it turned out, it was not. It was the same as the floor above it, just with less ice and a lot more boulders. Cat was draped over his shoulder, clutching at him tightly, traumatized by her skating lesson with the jynx. Seeing nothing in particular that captured his interest, he went straight for the next flight of stairs. As he went down, he expected another step like all the others that would trigger the lights but already looking into the stairway, he could see light already. Cautiously, he walked all the way down into what was the last floor.

The whole floor was almost completely covered in ice with metal chunks rising from the frozen surface. Standing resolute in the middle was, undoubtedly, Regigigas. Michael immediately tensed up, sensing the incredible power within the sleeping monster. The light itself seemed to be coming from the thick coat of ice. Cat, ever curious, scampered off his shoulder to the ground, completely over her earlier trauma, and slid around on the ice.

"No, Cat!" Sam said, trying to whisper considering the imposingly large pokémon that was probably not very nice, given his last encounter with a Regi-something. Cat, however, was not listening to him at all. Cautiously, Sam and Michael both walked out on the ice, both watching the massive pokémon for any sign of awakening, as Cat continued to slide around. Sam made his way over to stand straight in front of the Regigigas, but still on the ice.

Regigigas truly was a wondrous sight and perhaps the most awe-inspiring pokémon of them all. Ancient ferns grew straight from its back and moss was growing around its feet. The gems that ran down its barrel-like torso glittered faintly beneath the dust that clothed the golem. _It's head is about touching the ceiling… This whole place must have been built so it could get here… Why else would they have a twelve-foot-tall door? Though, even still, it couldn't have been easy to get something of this size down here safely… How did they even manage to do it without damaging the building?_

"_So… Why did we come here?" _Michael's small voice shot through his thoughts.

"Right… We came for treasure they would have buried him with. But… I don't know where. Actually- for a temple, this place isn't near as impressive as I thought it'd be…" he mused aloud before withdrawing back into his thoughts quietly. _This place really isn't much of a temple… There's nothing special here, but the outside is impressive if not elegantly elaborate. They practically worshiped the ground this thing walked on- there has to be something more impressive than this._

Sam only vaguely heard Cat's panicked squeaking, as he was so involved in his own thoughts. Michael's yelp of surprise did catch his attention, but not in time to prepare himself for Michael being thrown into his feet in a heap as Cat barreled into him, knocking Sam off balance. With all three now on a heap on the ice, Cat played with one of her toes sheepishly.

"Cat… I swear you-" he started, reaching to put his hood down and paused, looking past her. "You… Are a great help! Move!"

Pushing her aside gently, he cleaned off the ice more and leaned close to the surface, seeing the colors underneath the ice change. To confirm his theory, he tapped on the ice, hearing the dull echo below. "You found it, Cat! Michael, melt the ice."

Michael stared at him and down at the ice doubtfully. Sam gave him a sarcastic glare. "Don't give me that look, just do as I say."

With an expressive eye roll, Michael transformed into a slugma and the ice started to melt around him, fairly quickly. Watching the water well up from the ice, Sam realized that the light came from glowing crystals set in the ice. Any further thoughts were disrupted by the sudden crack that broke the ice as one of the crystals started to heat up, turning a pinkish color. Michael, alarmed, stopped melting the ice immediately and transformed into his proper form and hovered over Sam's shoulder.

Sam opted to remain kneeling on the ice as the crack in the ice spread across to the other side. Michael mustered up some more courage and spewed a burst of lava at the ice, finishing off the solid, glacier-like floor for sure. Sam peered down into the hole carefully, seeing the floor a good drop away. Michael floated through the hole and transformed into Articuno. Sam slid through the hole after him, dropping on to his wide, feathered back with Cat. Gracefully, Michael circled down to the floor below that consisted of a huge flight of stairs marred by the giant footsteps of Regigigas when it walked up there however many thousands of years it had been.

Cautiously, Sam hopped off Michael's back and onto the limestone floor. Looking up, he watched as the ice actually started refreezing itself. Not sure whether to be impressed or worried about how technologically advanced these people had been, he turned his attention to the darkness down the stairs. As soon as he took a step, light started to glow from the wide metal rail that ran down either side of the stairs. He took another tentative step, watching another light glow, illuminating the way into the darkness.

Drawing in a deep breath to calm down the surge of excitement, he kept walking down the stairs, Cat and Michael trailing beside him, quieted by the sheer weight of the atmosphere. All along the walls, large window-like cubbies held marble statues of what appeared to be ancient warriors. The further along they went, the more plants started to appear. At first, a few timid blossoms of flowers here and there and vines inching their way over the surface; now there were large, almost prehistoric flowers that dwarfed any counterpart today, with bright colors, and waterfalls dancing merrily down into small fountains.

At one particular step, one decorated with a special tile with an intricate floral motif, the lights on either side erupted from their source and spread- traveling up set paths along the walls and down the last ten steps. Startled slightly, Sam paused a moment to watch the light spread before slowly continuing down to the floor.

The light running along the walls branched off many different directions all at once, highlighting arches, motifs, paintings, statues, tapestries, and balconies before arcing towards the huge, domed ceiling in a fantastic display of light and then racing down the chain and illuminating a huge golden chandelier with gems of all colors hanging from it. As the light touched the gems, they doused the mostly white marble wall with a rainbow of flickering light. The floor looked like the finished masterpiece of a truly legendary watercolor painter. Blue ran along the outside in glossy tiles with golden and silver circles inlaid around the border. In the center of the beige-toned floor, basking under the light of the massive chandelier was a huge compass-like symbol with gold and silver disks and diamonds inlaid right into the floor. Where the needle would be in the compass was crystal-clear pool of water. Foliage hung from the balconies overhead and waterfalls ran down the wall into vases composed of single, huge diamonds.

The room alone was worth a fortune and it was only a hint at the wealth that was contained past the solid crystal doors embellished with sapphires and gold that stood at the end of the three halls past the arches.

Gazing around himself slowly, Sam couldn't help but wish that he could take the whole room back with him. Naturally, he had a great love and respect for the arts and beautiful things, and this room, this atrium of archaic wonders, was easily the most magnificent area to ever be hidden from the world.

"Talk about a diamond in the rough," he said softly. Even Cat could only look around with wide eyes. Sam allowed himself enough time to fully take in the whole room and commit it to memory before finally walking towards the giant doors to the front. He grabbed the golden handle and pulled gently and the door started to open, surprisingly easily, all things considered.

The crystal door swung out gently, revealing the massive U-shaped room within that wrapped around both sides. The small island right off the entryway from the door was the only place the shining white floor was visible. Right in front of him was a highly decorated altar that would be against the wall, but there wasn't a wall there. It was gone, revealing a massive crack in the earth. Even standing where he was, he could feel the heat of the lava and hear the bubbles of it bursting.

What he didn't notice was that, standing on either side of the doors, were what appeared to be tall suits of blue armor with glowing patterns etched on the dull surface. Sam hardly paid them a passing glance, far too engrossed by the pure, unending stretch of gold coins, silver plates and bars, entire statues made of priceless gems. Cat threw her small paws into the air and jumped joyfully, knowing that they had just found a lot of shiny things and shiny was good.

Michael, however, paid them a lot of attention, sensing the power within them and life as well. He growled dangerously at them, a low, deep, throaty growl that Sam failed to hear. Sam's gaze was right at a twelve-foot-tall idol of Regigigas made entirely of opal and decorated with even more priceless gems. Cat was toying with a giant black pearl.

As the 'suits of armor' started to move, light flashing from inside their joints and chest, Michael started growling even more, snapping his teeth at the things viciously. Sam did finally hear that and turned around.

"Michael what is the… matter…?" Sam looked up at the massive pokémon that were now moving towards him slowly. As they clenched their massive hands, small cracks were heard. With every slow step, their knees popped. Barely visible above their domed chests, glowing eyes that radiated a light similar to what he'd already seen in the lights of the temple looked down at him with intelligence.

"Never mind…" he finished dryly.

Michael glared at him, unamused, before turning back to the pokémon to growl even more ferociously. They gazed down at him, bowed their heads and dropped to one knee before him. Michael let one of his ears up and stared at them with open bafflement and stopped growling. Sam stood by, patiently as a telekinetic exchange passed between the pokémon and Michael.

Slowly, Michael turned back to him. _"They say that they are called 'Golurk' and they were created by the people who lived here to protect all people and Pokémon… They mean us no harm."_

"Oh, good! I like not being harmed," Sam answered, eyeing the golurk. Cat had managed to somehow remain completely clueless through the whole thing and continued playing with the pearl.

Michael looked back to the Golurk and spoke more to them before making eye-contact again with Sam. _"They say that they… Want to give you something and that you must take everything from this temple that you can."_

Sam shrugged and pulled out a goldball from his bag. "Well, I was planning on it anyway, but I guess it's nice to have permission." He pressed the seal of the ball and everything around him disappeared inside of it (including Cat's pearl, leaving her greatly disappointed. As he pulled out a second ball he looked directly at one of the golurk. "So why do I need to take this with me?"

"_Because it must be returned to the people who gave it… They want you to… Take it home," _Michael recounted for him.

Sam frowned with confusion. "I'd love to help, but I don't think the people who gave it are still around to take it back… But whatever, I guess." He walked around to the left and took a moment to take stock of all that was there before it disappeared into the goldball. He did the same with the right side before returning to the middle.

"So now what?" Sam asked looking around the now empty room.

The two Golurk stood up gradually, obviously stiff from not moving for hundreds of years, and plodded slowly forward to a heavily decorated altar that Sam had ignored until now. Sitting on the surface was a cradle of steel bearing a small stone that was glowing. The golurk stopped just before it and stepped aside for Sam.

Mildly suspicious and more than a little confused, Sam turned to Michael for reassurance as he communicated with the golurk.

"_They say it's a special stone that can awaken a dangerous legendary pokémon… They want you to take it with you… Always," _Michael repeated to him.

Sam looked back that the stone and sidled closer and eyed the stone. It was a blue so light and pure it was almost white and it had its own glow. Regarding it closely, he suddenly felt that it was similar to the stone on his necklace. He pulled his necklace out from beneath his shirt and jackets to study the purple stone. It was a deep purple that he had never seen before and had always marveled at. It was not a gem, just a beautiful rock that Steven had found and given to him. Often when he looked at it, he could almost see swirls moving over its surface and comparing it to this other rock, it was like having a blizzard captured inside the form of a small round stone.

Sam picked it up and held it in his hand, feeling its chill. He looked up at the golurk and nodded slowly. "You got yourself a deal… I'll carry this around with me."

They nodded curtly and pointed with their huge hands at a small door off in the right wing. Mystified but willing to trust these ancient guardians, he picked up Cat and walked over to the door. There wasn't a handle or anything that would mark it otherwise as a door. Cautiously, he placed his hand on the door, about to push it open when there was a flash of light as the door seemed to read his handprint before the door snapped to the side to reveal a glowing platform similar to those found in gyms today.

"Ah… Well that explains the random gaping hole at the stairs," Sam observed, stepping on the platform. The platform sensed the weight quickly and shot upwards and over to rise to the first floor that was probably somewhere close to a hundred feet up.

* * *

Cyrus stood alone, arms folded across his chest, as he gazed at the three lake guardians impassively, but secretly proud and smug. _So close… All we need to do is remove the gems and form the Red Chain._

He was so involved in his own thoughts that he failed to hear the sharp clack of high heels approach him. "Fawning over your prizes?"

Startled, he jumped just a little and whirled around to glare at her, immediately scowling. "Hmph. And I suppose you're going to scold me on that too?" he remarked flatly.

She shook her head with a snicker. "No, no… Darling. Fawn all you want- I am simply observing. Though I will ask, now that you have your tiny little friends, what are you intending to so with them?"

"To remove the gems from their tails and form the Red Chain. With that, I will be able to control Palkia and Dialga to change the world," Cyrus explained, his voice smug.

Madame played with a lock of her black hair thoughtfully, picking out a gray hair. "Mmmm… And how are you going to change the world with them, hm?" she asked, gazing at him from under hooded lids and long eyelashes. "What is your genius plan? They rule time and space, Cyrus. What are you going to do? Take us back to the Stone Age? Bring space crashing down us? Create a black hole in the fabric of time that would erase all humans from existence?"

His jaw muscles bulged as he clenched his teeth with irritation and pursed his lips into a straight line. There was a long pause as he searched for words to say and she waited expectantly. Finally, he just said, "I don't recall asking for your opinion."

She shook her head in disapproval and flicked her hair long hair back over her shoulder. "Mm-hmmm… Well, lovely, let me be clear: I will not let you destroy this world. If this gets out of control I will end you and your Red Jock-strap, understand?" she articulated, accentuating each word with a tap of her finger on his chest. She paused for a moment to see the understanding in his pale eyes before shoving past him easily. She almost made it to the door to leave when he spoke again.

"Wait..." She turned back, mildly surprised. Cyrus refused to make eye contact with her, highly unusual. "I… What would you do in my position?"

"I would forget the whole thing and focus on a higher goal with a partner who knows all to well what she's doing," she responded gently.

He shook his head. "I can't turn back anymore. It would make me appear weak. So tell me, then- what else is there?"

"Fine, try and carry out your plan. You and I both know that Lucas and Cynthia aren't going to let you get away with this- so let them stop you. It's not like your soldiers won't understand if it's Lucas… Your job would just be to make sure they still believe in what you're doing and that you appear to believe in that as well," she said simply.

Cyrus sighed heavily. "I hate that you always make sense," he growled. She smiled at him winningly and he returned a scowl. "Leave me… Go back to the base where you belong. I will handle this alone."

She curtsied for him daintily. "Of course… Sweet dreams, dearest."

Cyrus went back to looking at the small creatures contained in their cages, still seeing the defiance in the eyes of the blue one, Azelf. As he stared back at the pokémon, he suddenly felt uneasy and unsettled by the willpower held in its golden eyes. _It looks almost familiar… That stare… Where have I see it before? _He pondered this mystery and a flash of the thief who'd broken into Veilstone Headquarters came to mind. At that time, even beneath his hood, Cyrus could see his eyes burning with unwavering determination. No fear. No hesitation. A promise to fight till the very end.

"Ah… yes…" Cyrus stroked his chin slowly, remembering all the trouble this man had single-handedly caused him. Involuntarily, he clenched his hand into a powerful fist, feeling the small bones of his hand crack. "I can't wait to meet him officially… And watch his spirit break with his body."

* * *

**AN:** Take your foreshadowing and go. Haha, just kidding. I wrote this after watching The Dark Knight Rises, needless to say, it carried over. And, for the record, I don't care what you guys think, Madame is a bad ass and I love her. Oh! And the Regi whatever's are all done, but that doesn't mean you can just forget about them. They will come back to haunt you.

Big thanks to my beta and good friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**! Her stories are super fabulous and she's a much better writer than I am so you know you'll be getting a good read.

**Thank you for reading this chapter and for reviewing last week!**


	18. Chapter 18

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Noon fell on the Battle Frontier, the joyful chattering of trainers and their pokémon loud in the warmth of midday. Despite the peacefulness outside, the meeting room on the top floor of the Battle Tower was brimming with action and talk of such. The room had never been so alive.

The four prefects were seated in their normal spots; Palmer was drumming his hands on the shiny black surface of the table impatiently, Dahlia was humming and dancing in her chair as best as she could, Argenta leaned back and passed flirtatious glances at all the attractive young men in the room, while Thorton typed away furiously at his little device. Darach was not there and there was not a seat for him at all. Instead, next to Thorton, Steven was sitting comfortably next to Sam, who was lounging nonchalantly in his chair with his boots up on the table. Matt was next to him with his computer and they seemed rather engaged in something.

On the opposite side from them was an empty chair for Cynthia next to Conrad, who was twirling his mustache as he spaced out. Beside him was Lucy, a dynamic woman with almond-shaped chocolate eyes and pin-straight amber hair that was cut short and choppy at her neck. Taking up the last two seats at the end of the table were the last two of the five thieves: Robert, a young man with a lithe build, dressed professionally for almost everything and Myra, a blunt girl only a few years older than Sam with thick, curly, dark pink hair that cascaded down her back from her ponytail.

The chair at the head of the table was empty for the moment as Riley just walked in. "I thought I said noon… Seems you all like being early," he commented, smiling kindly.

"Or maybe you're just late," Sam accused with a grin.

Riley ignored him and went to his chair, unbuttoning his suit jacket before sitting down. "Where's Darach?"

Argenta answered him cheerfully, "He's trying helping Caitlin pack and convince her to stay at the same time… She's hell-bent on going to Unova. This lady thinks she's crazy, but…"

"Rebellious teens are rebellious," Sam finished, bored.

Riley looked over the faces around him again, ignoring Sam. "So only Cynthia is missing?"

"Ya, she'll be here shortly though…" Matt answered, adjusting his bright green tie.

Sam looked at him skeptically. "How would you know?"

"We're friends," Matt replied indignantly.

Riley interrupted quickly, knowing how off-topic the meeting could turn if left in the hands of Sam and Matt. "That's fine but for the moment, let's begin anyway. We've done some heavy investigating into Team Galactic recently and have deciphered that the Veilstone Headquarters is not the last of their bases, but there is still another hidden somewhere."

"Now, it has also come to my attention that Cyrus has some new recruits added to his line-up… Very troublesome recruits," Riley said, eyeing Sam and Conrad.

"Aye, sir… These guys are all tough, gutsy fighters that won't let you off easy. They're no joke," Conrad started.

"Well… There's something else," Sam interrupted, playing with his necklace. "It seems that Galactic Commander Jupiter is one of these 'special forces' and she and all the others were trained by Cyrus, who is also a master."

Riley grimaced. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Because that means he's even worse than the other guys we've fought against?" Sam answered caustically. Riley gave him a look and he dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "And, for the record, when we go to face him, it needs to be all five of us."

"All five?" Riley repeated, surprised. "Why?"

"Why? I guess I like living, Riley, and if he's a master and I've been struggling with just one-on-one fights with his apprentices…"

Robert looked up suddenly, his electric blue eyes intense under his hooded lids. "He's right… It would take the five of us. Cyrus is strong and it's not likely that he'd be alone."

Myra chewed on a lock of her pink hair thoughtfully. "Ya… Better safe dan sorry."

"Or dead, for that matter," Sam added.

Riley eyed each of them, Conrad and Lucy nodding in agreement with their peers. He ran a hand through his dark hair with a tired sigh. "Alright… Though I don't know that concentrating all of our best fighters into one spot is a good idea. I wouldn't put it past Cyrus to set up a trap or something."

Steven pursed his lips into a straight line and considered what Riley said, looking at the five thieves around him, but especially Sam. "Riley, I would rather have the five of them together than alone… If they say that it would take the five of them, then I trust their judgment."

Riley nodded slowly. "Of course… Well, I will need to talk to you all and we will have to set up some leaders in your place to lead some teams… As for now-" Riley was interrupted by the door opening as Cynthia entered finally.

She saw them all sitting there and she paled slightly. "Am I late…?"

Riley smiled at her gently. "No, we were just here early, you didn't miss anything."

She nodded and a look of relief came to her face for a moment, then she looked at Sam and scowled with a pointed stared at his boots as she sat down. Sam quickly removed his feet from the table without a word.

Riley opted to just ignore them, clearing his throat to reclaim attention. "Now, we also know that Cyrus has managed to catch the three lake guardians. Cynthia, who has put many hours into researching this, has finally figured out why…" Riley made eye contact with her and gestured to her, handing her the floor to speak.

"Cyrus is trying to control Palkia and Dialga, the pokémon of space and time, respectively."

Thorton looked up sharply. "Palkia and Dialga? What for?"

The prefects immediately went into uproar, arguing with each other.

Matt raised his hand tentatively. "Uh… Can I answer that?"

Cynthia nodded at him with a rather gentle smile. "Of course… If you can be heard over their squabbling."

Matt tapped Sam on the shoulder and gestured at them. "Help me out?"

Sam pulled out his broken phone (which he still carried around for kicks) and slammed it on the table so hard it echoed like a gunshot. All four prefects stared at him with wide eyes. "Matt wants to speak," he stated and sat back in his chair like nothing happened.

"Okay so- I've been looking into this Cyrus and you kinda need to know where he came from… So, Cyrus is totally the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerovich from Sunyshore. He was deemed a very smart boy in all his studies, crazy good grades and total brain. Like, build a perfectly functional robot, B-R-A-I-N. But his parents were still always telling him that he wasn't good enough... Barely paid attention to the boy," Matt said, trailing off at the end talking about how sucky some parents were with a glance at Riley and a few choice others. Then he suddenly picked up again loudly, "SO around when he was seventeen, we see a rise of thugs and stuff in Sunyshore with the appearance of that psycho thug who went by the codename 'Cronus'… Not long afterwards, Cyrus disappears. I think we can all agree at this point that he was learning how to kick ass from Cronus."

Argenta chuckled. "You have such a way with saying things."

Matt looked up at her. "I'm not done yet! Geez, wait your turn. Anyway, it was around 22 that he developed a god-complex looking at the wacked personality flip he had when he came back… His grandpa and I talked and he said that Cyrus was very anti-emotions after that and just seemed to hate everyone," Matt finally finished, closing his laptop with a proud smile.

Cynthia nodded her approval. "Thank you, Matt… Now, from that persona I thought that perhaps Cyrus would use the Trio itself to erase emotions from the world as there is a legend stating that any being that touches Mesprit will lose all emotion and anything that touches Azelf will lose all of its willpower… I don't know for certain if this is true, but it seems that Cyrus isn't going to test it since he doesn't know of these rumors."

"So what _is _he going to do?" Dahlia asked, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

"He appears to want to create a 'Red Chain'. Unfortunately, I don't know much about this chain since Cyrus has destroyed most materials pertaining to it. However, I found a librarian who was able to recount everything she's ever read. She told me that it is a sacred item that can be crafted from the jewels from the bodies of Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie and it can control Palkia or Dialga without the use of a Poké Ball… Allegedly."

"But, if he only has one…" Thorton started thoughtfully. "Then he can only control Palkia or Dialga, right?"

Cynthia shook her head. "I… Acquainted myself with a captured grunt and according to him, Cyrus was able to find materials enough to make a second, artificial Red Chain by analyzing one of Mesprit's gems. He can control both, in theory. Whether or not his artificial chain will work is entirely unpredictable."

Riley nodded. "Let's assume for argument's sake that it will work…"

Argenta held up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, cowboy. Hang on now… This lady is wondering how Cyrus could possibly craft an artificial chain? Where could he find the gems?"

Palmer slammed his fists on the table. "What difference does it make?" he countered impatiently.

Dahlia hummed and stared at the ceiling. "I guess it would just determine if that 'artificial chain' is bullshit or not."

"This lady agrees," Argenta declared high-fiving Dahlia.

Riley sighed and pulled at the corner of his eyes. When he looked up, he saw Sam and Steven in a rather deep discussion and Matt trying desperately to listen in. "Have you two got something to say?" Riley asked them pointedly.

Steven held up a hand as a way of asking for a few more moments and Sam finished up his sentence quickly before sitting back in his chair. Steven turned back to them and everyone's attention was on him as he spoke. "It is completely possible. You can forge just about any gemstone as long as you've got the right amount of minerals and the right kind."

"You can forge any gem, but that doesn't make it a real stone and people can tell when something's forged," Thorton contested.

"Common misconception," Sam pointed out.

Steven continued off that, "It doesn't necessarily make it any less real- it's just that people prefer the real thing to a manufactured one. It's still the same stone. As long as Cyrus collected the right materials, which would be easy to get a hold of, he could manufacture those gems with relative ease and they'll still be the same basic element," Steven explained.

"Vat? Dat is dey only difference?" Myra exclaimed. "Den vhy don't dey pay as much for forged gems!?"

Robert flicked his blue-eyed gaze over to her. "Because people prefer the diamonds taken from mines, weren't you listening?"

Myra puckered her lips with a sour and sassy attitude. Riley quickly started talking to prevent any fights between the two. "So… It's safe to say that this artificial chain will work?"

Matt shrugged. "Considering how smart this guy is, I'd say so."

"There's about a 92% chance the chain will work," Thorton added after briefly considering the numbers.

"Thank you, Thorton," Riley replied tactfully. "Now, I want you four to gather your thieves and make sure that all of our currently repossessed property is safe. I will pull out thieves from your teams as necessary, but for now assume that you have everyone… You're dismissed."

Palmer leapt up, startling Riley. "On it! Let's go! Let's go!" With a wild whoop, he sprinted from the room. The other three got up and followed him out, Dahlia waving a cheerful goodbye as she danced out.

"Now that they're gone, let's talk about the Veilstone Building's defense… Is there anything in particular we should watch out for?" Riley asked, leaning forward on the table.

Matt was back on his computer. "Not a thing," he answered.

"Really…?"

"Well, you know, there were, like, a hundred security cameras but I've already taken care of most of them so by the time you guys get there it'll be fine… And, just by the way, Lucas is on his way there according to a source of mine… … Namely Barry's mother. So… We really can't be killing people around him, can we?"

Riley sighed heavily. "No… Ugh. Okay, then we wait till he leaves."

"We don't necessarily have to," Lucy spoke up. "Me an' Robert 'ave been looking at the city for a while now an' we've discovered a secret 'arbor."

Robert took over, folding his hands together solemnly. "It appears that they are using said harbor as a grounds to contain not only their ships, but also several scores of men. I suggest that we start there. We should be able to reach the main building from there and by that time Lucas may have already cleared out."

Conrad stroked his beard. "Aye… Sounds like a plan to me."

"Vhatever makes you happy," Myra hissed reluctantly.

Everyone looked at Sam, who had yet to give his opinion. He ignored their stares and continued to play with his necklace as he mulled things over quietly for a bit longer. "Lucas won't leave until he frees the trio… If we wait till Lucas leaves, then we will also have to let Cyrus leave as well… If Lucas succeeds in chasing him off, we risk never being able to catch him again until we find their base… _If _we find their base."

"So it's either reveal our existence or let Cyrus go, eh?" Riley surmised.

Cynthia responded, slowly, "Perhaps it isn't such a bad thing to let him go… If he's as tough as they say, then maybe trying another time would be for the best."

"And if we can push them all into one central location, it might be easier to find out where their base is," Steven added.

Riley nodded in acknowledgement but kept his eyes on Sam. "You don't seem to approve…"

Sam flicked his gaze at him and then shrugged. "Honestly, it doesn't matter if we face him today, tomorrow, or next month- it's going to be unpleasant and tough, but the longer we give him, the more time he has to prepare. We've got a shot at him right now, I think we should take it."

"Let's just take the docks first… That'll give us a chance to take out a good portion of their men and it will also grant us a good entrance to their Headquarters," Conrad suggested, having reflected upon what Sam had said.

Sam considered the notion for a moment. "Yeah… Sounds fair to me."

"Alright then- with that settled, let's move on to the army you'll be taking with you… Do you know anyone in particular that you think should be there with you?" Riley asked, looking at them in turn.

Conrad frowned as he thought it over. "Ah… What's his moniker… … Julian! Julian Moss… He's a good kid and he'd do well in this situation. And Rodney Watts…. Floyd Holloway, Salvatore Merrit, and Sydney Horne. They're all youngsters I've worked with recently- show good character."

Riley smiled at him kindly, writing all the names down quickly. "Of course… I'll be sure to collect them. Lucy?"

She pursed her lips together and stared at the ceiling. "Janel Rice… Liam Everett. Those two are a pretty good pair- you can find them in Jubilife City right now."

Robert stared at the table, hands folded solemnly as he thought. Finally, he shrugged simply. "I have no one in particular."

Myra shook her head as Riley looked at her. "Okay… Then Sam- anyone you'd like to suggest?"

Sam sighed. "If you can convince her, Nolyn Goulding… I think Grey would get kick out of this. Will… For a distraction if nothing else… … And _definitely _Olivia Kenney."

Riley raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," Sam replied carelessly. "Nolyn's good, Grey could stand to learn something… Will… Well, he'll do something crazy that will probably work and Olivia knows the Headquarters like the back of her hand."

"Uh… Isn't Will that free-lance thief… The crazy one?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"We're going into a building full of people who want to kill us- we're all crazy. And besides, it's not like we'd have to watch him- just let him run loose," Sam argued. "Really, any freelance would probably work out just fine."

Riley folded up the piece of paper and handed it to his secretary, who had come to his side after seeing him write on the paper. "Then I guess it's settled… Conrad, Lucy, Robert, and Myra- you can go. I'll have a crew there shortly but you don't have to wait up."

With diverse, quiet gestures of respect, they all stood and walked out, leaving Cynthia, Steven, Sam, and Matt with Riley.

"Sam, I believe you mentioned something about a 'secret library' at the Canalave tunnels before leaving for Snowpoint? Care to explain?" Riley asked.

"Okay… Here it goes- I went into the tunnels and I expected it to, you know, be brimming with grunts but as it turned out there were only ten of them. I went to explore and found some grunts burning books. I tried to investigate a little bit, but I was rudely interrupted by this guy and his cronies who wanted to kill me… Obviously, they didn't succeed…" Sam recounted calmly. "Anyway- there was this little room right under where the Canalave Library would be… And it was full of books about bombs and guns and whatnot."

Riley's eyes widened. "Are you serious!? They had access to that material this entire time?!"

"If you think about it- that does make sense… How else would they be able to build such a powerful bomb?" Cynthia interjected coolly.

Steven sighed. "Well, it would have been better if we'd known sooner- we could have at least prevented some of this… Honestly, I can't say that I'm surprised that the books were there. The man who put them there, your great grandfather, actually, was known to be a very paranoid man, but I find it hard to believe that he would have that knowledge destroyed… He would have wanted it somewhere close on hand, but somewhere that no one else would know where to find it," he said, looking at Riley.

Riley paused for a moment, then slumped back in his chair. "That is very true… I never met him, but I have heard a great deal about him."

"Well, that's all beside the point. I went through the books and grabbed the ones that seemed important to Team Galactic and I also found some blueprints for a rifle… And then the rifle itself," Sam added.

"You have the books?! Well, where are they!?" Cynthia asked.

"Safe. I think we've got a bit of an… intelligence problem so I'll be keeping them for now until we find someone who can make sense of them and won't betray us."

Riley smiled. "Well, if there's anyone who can keep them hidden- it would be you… What about the rifle? Is it-"

"With the books. Perfectly safe and you guys are the only ones who know I have them," Sam answered.

"Good. I can live with that for now. Now… Oh crap…" Riley rubbed at his brow as he tried to remember what he was going to ask.

"If you've got to something to say, write it down first," Steven advised with a good-natured chuckle.

"I know, I know… I'll figure it out," Riley said with a frustrated sigh.

Sam waited patiently for all of a few seconds before turning to Matt. "Hey, did you ever find that nurse I was talking about?"

Matt stared at him blankly and repeated what he said quietly before realization dawned on him. "Oh! Margie! Yeah… She is… Hang on a sec, I'll pull her back up here." After typing on his computer for a little bit, he handed the computer over to Sam so Steven could see too.

Sam immediately started laughing. Steven read it out loud with a wide grin. "Nurse for ten years… Fired for drinking on duty and two red marks for beating up some rowdy customers! Ha!"

Cynthia stared at them, appalled. "What?!"

"I swear, that lady is a kill…" Sam managed to say between laughing.

Steven shook his head with disbelief. "I have got to meet this woman."

"Ha! Steven, she's got, like, five ex-husbands… Don't make it six," Matt teased.

"Okay just because Steven wants to meet her doesn't mean he's going to end up marrying her…" Sam answered. Steven looked at him warily as Sam paused. With a devious smirk, he continued "You know Steven has never gotten that far in a relationship before."

Steven sneered at him and slapped him on the back of the head, cutting his laughter short. "Yes, Matt- it's Sam that we would have to worry about if he ever said 'I have to meet her'."

"Oh, yes… You're such a player," Matt teased.

Sam waved them off dismissively. "So? More fun that way… And I get bored easily," Sam reasoned. "Speaking of which, I'm starting to feel really sorry for Cheryl because Riley is absolutely no fun at all."

Riley sighed heavily, but said nothing in response. Matt rolled his eyes. "We can't all whore around like you do."

Sam started to say something back to that, but just laughed. "Guilty as charged…"

Steven shook his head as he laughed with them. "Actually, that reminds me- how's Ryan? Is she still in Johto?"

Matt tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Eeh… Probably…"

"Well, if she wasn't, she'd probably be calling me," Sam added. "But it has been awhile… …"

"Ryan did whatever she wanted… And whoever. I'm sure she's fine," Matt remarked, taking his computer back. "Damn… Johto… That brings back memories."

Sam grimaced. "Yeah… Such fond memories."

"Well, not for you, but I can be nostalgic. Besides, it wasn't all bad- you met me."

"And what a joy that has been," Sam answered sarcastically.

Matt made a face at him. "Like you have room to talk!"

Cynthia slammed her open hands into the table loudly as she stood up. "Enough! That is enough out of you two!"

Sam and Matt both jumped back and closer together as they both shrunk back. Steven smiled smugly. "And you! Steven, I cannot believe you were a part of their… display. You're supposed to be the Champion of Hoenn and you are the most respected man in the Guild and you're acting like a child!"

The trio of trouble could do little more than stare at her timidly. Riley intervened gently on their behalf. "Uh, Cynthia? … They were just fooling around, it's fine."

Cynthia eyed him and sat down slowly. "My apologies," she muttered.

"By the way, I did remember what I was going to say… … I will be sending the Colonels to help you- all four of them. As far as Cat and Michael go- you are welcome to leave them here with me… I'm sure I can manage," Riley offered, rather graciously.

Sam grimaced and looked at him skeptically. "I don't know about that, Riles."

"_Riles_?!" Cynthia repeated, astonished.

Matt ignored her outburst. "Yeah, they look all sweet and innocent, but in reality, they're ragingly depressed children with daddy's not home," he said with a teasing wink at Sam.

Sam winced at the reference, but played off it anyway. "They're probably better off with Gramps here," he said, slapping Steven on the shoulder lightly.

Riley narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly. "Right… Whatever you need to do…"

Cynthia, after a moment of scowling so that her displeasure was felt by Sam, spoke up. "Sir, I will prepare the Colonels to strike and ensure that everyone is ready… I assume that this is to be started at 2?"

"Ah… I would say 1… Let them show up as they can. I can't imagine that punctuality makes a difference here as long as they show up in a timely manner."

"Nah, not really," Sam answered.

"Of course, sir… Goodbye, gentlemen," she concluded stiffly.

Once she was gone, Sam couldn't help but comment, "I told you she was scary."

Steven grimaced. "I wouldn't say scary so much as I felt like a child and my mother was scolding me…"

"Yeah, I don't know that she likes me as much anymore. But I guess that's all right… She's kinda a too uptight by-the-book a friendship to work out between us anyway," Matt observed sagely.

Riley rested his cheek on his hand and looked at them hopelessly. "You guys are seriously ridiculous…"

Sam grinned innocently. "I can't help it- I get it from Steven."

"Bullshit. You don't get anything from me. You're not actually my son, remember?" Steven returned, a tiny smile giving away that fact that he was teasing.

Sam feigned hurt dramatically. "Steven! How could you?"

Riley groaned. "Arceus, shut up! All three of you, out! And back to work! We need to be set up before 2 in Veilstone," he warned.

Sam smiled at him confidently. "Oh, don't you fret… We'll send them off packing… And I'll make sure they never return."

* * *

Hacked rigidly into the northern cliffs into the sea around Veilstone City, was the harbor for Team Galactic. Some small steamboat-type carriers were pulled into the cavern, docked safely having unloaded its cargo of materials, pokemon, and weapons. Grunts ran around, carrying the boxes containing various different things hurriedly under the baleful eye of the dock master; an old, bitter man with a scraggly grey beard and mass of dirty, curly hair spurting from under his cap. He stood on the platform of the docks awaiting the last ship to come in.

"C'mon now, move yer asses! Keelhaul it in, ya lazy dogs! I'll have yer guts fer garters!" he bellowed. Slowly, but surely, the ship rocked through the water and docked clumsily, dropping its anchor.

The dock master shook his head, turning red with rage. A board dropped down to let him aboard and he stumped up with foul temper emanating from him in dark waves.

"Ya lazy layabouts! I'll flog yer worthless hides with the cat!" he roared, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Vhy, Sam, I thought vou said vou could captain dis ship," a sultry female voice purred. The dock master whipped around and saw the woman in a black, leather bodysuit lounging on some crates on deck, the cat lying over her thigh, its barbed tails clinking together.

Above her, leaning casually on at the helm, was a younger man with dark skin in an equally black outfit, decked out with weapons. "Myra, I'm a little rusty- and I didn't do too badly."

"Vou are more dan a vittle rusty, me thinks…" she commented, eyeing the trembling man before her. "Now, vou said dat vou vould flog us vit a 'cat'… Vou couldn't mean dis, could vou?" she purred, rising from the crates and tapping him under the chin with the coiled whip.

His cloudy gray eyes widened and bulged with terror. Soon, several other figures appeared from the shadows like wraiths in the darkest hour of the night. "Vou are a very cruel man, me thinks… And I think dat vou should feel the pain vou has inflicted on others," she told him, cracking the whip expertly with hardly more than a flick of her wrist.

Robert pounced on the man from behind, choking him with a rope to prevent him from screaming too loud as Myra unleashed brutal lash after lash from the cat, its tails flaying the man's soft belly with every hit. With a pitiful gurgle, the dead man dropped to the deck, his internal organs spilling out from his tattered abdomen.

Myra fondled the whip with open respect. "I think dat perhaps I vill keep dis cat… A beautiful weapon, no?"

Sam joined them all on the deck. "Myra, you can keep that thing as long as you promise not to hit any of us with it."

Conrad looked over the cavern with a sharp eye. "They really didn't spare any expense here… And it looks deep… This probably covers the whole hill they set their damn headquarters on… No tellin' how long it's been here either."

"Former Captain Roger was drunk most of the time, it's safe to say he never would have noticed," Robert answered, his dark, navy blue hair slicked back. Slung over his shoulder was a black bow and a sling of arrows, while along his belt were diversionary items and throwing knives. Robert didn't engage in hand-to-hand combat very much, but he was the sharpest shot the Guild had, if not ever seen.

His face as stoic and calm as ever, Robert traced something along the walls, muttering to himself. Lucy leaned on her steel pike, her own weapon of choice, as her eyes drew in the atmosphere, her amber hair waving in the slight breeze. "Well, standing around 'ere isn't going to 'elp… Are we setting a plan or not?"

Sam shrugged. "You take your forces into the thickest bunch of them to take them head-on. Conrad sneaks around behind them with his group and gets them on a two front. Robert-"

"Goes up into the ceiling for a 'igher vantage point with Myra and a limited group of bodyguards to protect 'im," Lucy picked up, her brown eyes lighting up with excitement.

"And I'll take my group and spread them out- we'll sneak around and take out who we can," Sam finished.

Lucy nodded. "I can take them on easily and I'll try to keep us as the greater threat… The rest of our men should arrive soon, but 'ow are we dividing the forces we already 'ave?"

"Any volunteers?" Conrad asked seriously. "What role in this do you want to be remembered for?"

Slowly, thieves on deck divided themselves boldly and easily- silent and sober… Though Sam heard Grey curse at someone who might have pushed her accidentally. Looking behind him, he saw a wide array of talent in the rather small group- the general misfits. Myra was surrounded by seven others; all decked out in weapons and all were good defensive walls.

Lucy had by far the biggest bunch; ranging from skilled fighters to the very best of defensive walls. Conrad had some of the bulkier thieves that had been specially trained between the five so-called 'Ringleaders'. Robert stood alone, but he had always been a lone wolf and preferred it that way. Plus, there wasn't another person who could do what Robert could.

"I will stand on the balcony there…" Robert stated, pointing at the small balcony high enough off the ground for him to be out of the fray and enable him to see perfect but with a ladder that would allow Myra and her crew to protect him easily.

Looking across the deck, they could all see the grunts running towards them and some away, raising the alarm. Lucy twirled her pike, a long, steel rod with a both ends sharpened to a piercing point. "Then it's settled… Let's bring the fight to them."

Wasting no time, she leaped forward, her army of about seventy close behind her. She lunged at the first group of grunts with her pike and impaled them like a cannibal's kabob. She whirled the pike to rid herself of them coldly, their bodies flung away like unwanted garbage. Spinning the pike around her head, the pike's point ripped through their necks leaving slices just deep enough to release the pounding blood from the major arteries in their necks. It didn't take long for the others to flee for their lives, turning to the back where it could only be assumed that the real soldiers would come from. Howling an adrenaline born war cry that chilled the already terrified grunts to the core, Lucy hurled her pike like an Olympic athlete, skewering three grunts at once.

Seeing the grunts trying to flee, Robert leapt off the boat and onto the deck, quickly running to the tallest man around, a truly hulking beast named Orlando, and hopped up on his shoulder. Only the echoing 'twang' of the bow's string was heard and the arrows hiss as they flew to their targets was heard, but no one had even seen the man take aim. There was simply a line of dead grunts as proof of what he'd done. Without a wasted moment, Robert leapt from Orlando onto the heads and shoulders of others, leap-frogging his way to the ladder to climb up onto his perch of choice.

Myra growled angrily under his breath. "Vy does dat man insist on runnink like a jack rabbit vhen I am suppost to protect him?"

Sam laughed, Robert wasn't exactly known for caring about others. "Well, you better get going… Lucy's clearing the way for you, after all."

Myra spat on the deck in foul temper. "Damn dat inconsiderate man… Let's go! … Before dat idiot gets pickt off himself." She and her small crew raced off the deck and hurled themselves into the mass of black, blood, and steel to surface again minutes later by the ladder.

Conrad and Sam stood alone beside each other. "What now?" Conrad asked, looking around.

"I'll help you get around these guys to the back… But we'll wait until the flood of soldiers stops coming or our strategy could backfire drastically…" he looked up at the short mast, seeing a roost near the top. "Hang tight here," Sam instructed as he ran back up the stairs to the mast, climbing the small ladder up to the top quickly and without hesitation.

Standing perfectly balanced on the beam yards above the deck, Sam pulled out a pair of small binoculars from one of his many pockets. Despite the small size, they were extremely accurate. Using them to scope out the true depth and size of the field, his gaze followed the long room back to a huge iron door that was open wide.

Through this gaping hole, soldiers poured through, directed by Jupiter herself. He clenched his jaw, itching at a second chance to wipe that conceited expression from her face. As the soldiers appeared, the grunts with absolutely no experience in fighting fled back inside the Headquarters… If they even made it that far as Robert continuously loosed a rain of arrows. And not just the standard iron bolt, but ones that shattered in millions of pieces of shrapnel on impact, some that lit on fire, and still others that released small but potent explosions into their ranks.

As he watched the more armored and armed soldiers move into the fray, he saw one individual in particular that caught his attention and instilled a vague sense of uneasiness. The brutish thug was tall and with every movement huge muscles rippled over his body. His thighs were so well muscled that his black pants were skin-tight before cutting off in a slight flare at his kneecaps. He wore something similar to the Galactic uniform, but it didn't very well over his massive barrel-chest so it was worn as a vest. Looking at his hands, Sam didn't see any weapon other than spiked brass knuckles on both hands, though the man probably didn't need any other weapons considering his colossal size.

Sam lowered the binoculars momentarily, wondering if he should warn Lucy. He put them back up and found the brute again- it wasn't hard really. Shifting his sight to Lucy, it was obvious she'd seen him. Robert must have as well since there was an arrow sticking out of the man's chest, but it was not very deep as the man's chest was so tough with hard muscle. Getting a closer look at the man, it was obvious that he was riding the high of some adrenaline-boosting drug.

_Damn these thugs and their cheap dope… _He raised the binoculars one last time to watch the doors, seeing at its entrance a slender man around his own size. While he didn't have the intimidating bulk that the brute possessed, he radiated a certain genius that gave Sam a chill and a very bad feeling.

"What are you planning?" he thought aloud, watching the man intently.

This new man, who had apparently taken command from Jupiter, looked around with a calculating gaze; seeing everything that was happening and what would need to for him to win. Sam forced himself to look back at the battle and find their own weaknesses. It didn't take him long to see what they were lacking.

"Conrad! When with the rest of the men and the Colonels be here?" he called down nervously.

Conrad scratched his head. "Aah… Probably in about ten or fifteen minutes. Why?"

Sam didn't answer as he watched with discouragement as the man released a malignant purugly, a sinister bronzong, and a smirking toxicroak laden with poison.

He heard Conrad sigh heavily below him. "And why do I get the feeling it's something bad?"

"Does anyone have any pokémon on them?" Sam asked in response, a sigh heard in his voice. _Of all the times to leave Michael somewhere else…_

"I don't… And I'm not sure anyone else does…"

The crowd of thieves conversed amongst themselves, anxiety surrounding them in a dark cloud.

"I… I h-have a p-pokémon… M-my mawile might be able to… h-help," Nolyn offered, holding the single pokéball in her hands.

Grey leapt forward with a pokéball of her own held proudly above her head. "I've got a pokémon too! It's my shuppet, Grudge! He kicks ass, I promise!"

Another man Sam did not recognize raised his hand tentatively and said something, but his voice was so soft that it couldn't be heard. Conrad repeated what the man said, bellowing above the sounds of the fray. "He said he's got a quagsire."

_So we've got a quagsire, a little mawile, and a shuppet… _Sam sighed heavily and smacked his forehead into his open palms in resignation.

"Don't look so excited up there," Conrad joked. "We might just last long enough for them to arrive!"

The small shred of hope he gave was ripped from their hearts cruelly at the sound of grating metal. Everyone on the ship turned around to watch as huge, rusty, iron doors came together and then locked- sealing them in and their help out.

Sam turned back to the man, who had no doubt given the orders, to find that the doors behind him that led into the building were also closed and sealed tightly and the control box destroyed. He tore his eyes away and made his way back down to the deck, his face grim.

"We're trapped down here. Both exits are closed- there's no way out at the moment," Sam explained.

Conrad's face paled visibly. "Arceus in a hand basket!" he swore.

"We're out-numbered two to one… Which means-" Sam began but was cut off shortly.

"That we're dead?" one woman interrupted, her voice shrill with disbelief and fear.

"No," Sam answered curtly. "It just means that we're going to have to do more with less… Though, mark my words, none of you are allowed to die, understand?" A small smile came to his face as some of the thieves relaxed at his levity.

"Now listen up- We're going to get Conrad's group to the back so they can start the two-front war… Once that is accomplished, you are free to do as you need to- Will! Where are you…"

The sea of thieves parted for the willowy man dressed rather inappropriately for a battle in sweatpants and a tattered shirt. Sam threw a friendly arm around Will's shoulders with a grin. "Will, I need you to open those doors for me… I don't care how you do it. Can you do that for me?"

Will eyed the doors with his emerald green eyes and scratched his messy fop of light brown hair as he pondered it. "I do believe I am the man for the job…"

Sam clapped him on the back heartily. "Good man! You work on that- the rest of you –let's get in on this now before the party's over."

On the other side of the field, the terrified grunt stood next to a man known simply as J- an average-sized man with electric blue hair and eyes as dark as midnight. His face held it's typical scowl as he watched the foray before him- noticing the thieves on the ship move finally, the woman with the long steel pike, but more importantly, an unerring man on one of the balconies with the bow who was the greatest threat right now- and as such he needed to be eliminated.

The best way to get something done is to do it yourself.

He began the march to the balcony, his mind focused on only one thing, his next target, as thieves poured into to help their comrades. To his surprise, his beeline trek was blocked by a younger man with dark brown eyes blazing with determination and two blades glinting in the light.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, boy," he growled as he pulled his own weapon from the sheath on his back, a long katana with a pure white handle with gold filigree. "You and your friends are dead."

"Now if only I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me," Sam replied with a grin before further conversation was cut off by the ensuing clangs of metal crashing on metal.

* * *

**AN: **It's the chapter you've all been waiting for... It just gets crazier from here.

*takes deep breath* Okay, OCs!

**Grey** is from **PikaKnight**

**Will** is from **guisniperman**

**Olivia** **Kenney** is from **DarkAngelTorchic**

**Nolyn** **Goulding** is from **Noir's Revenge**

Thank you to all of you who submitted these wonderful OC's! They really made this chapter and the next chapter what they are!

Also, thank you again to my super fantastic beta and good friend, **DarkAngelTorchic!** (you should go read her fan fiction)

**Thank you for reading and reviewing! It means so much to me!**

Hit the 50 review mark for this GSTA: Sinnoh yesterday and it seriously made my day!


	19. Chapter 19

No copyright infringement intended.

And special thanks to all of those who submitted OC's!

* * *

Cyrus cracked his knuckles calmly as he imagined the fray below… He wanted to join, knowing that the thief who had defied him so would be there. However, he was needed above as he had to talk to his grunts about the future goals and rouse them into believing in him and his cause- to give them strength to fight for something he no longer believed in, in hopes of achieving a world they didn't understand. They were his mareep, and he their shepherd and he could lead them wherever he chose and they would not question.

Saturn approached him nervously, his normally straight blue hair spiked up. "Sir, the men have gathered- they're waiting for you."

Cyrus turned his head slightly in recognition. As Saturn turned to leave slowly, Cyrus stopped him. "And the harbor?"

"We've sent every available soldier down there and J to replace Jupiter, who left with Mars for Headquarters. Then… J closed both doors."

"Like fish in a barrel… Tell me, Saturn, who do you think will reign victorious?"

Saturn pursed his lips into a thin line and looked away as he paused. "I don't know… I'm not a fighter."

Cyrus raised his eyebrows and stared at his chief commander with open surprise. "I see… How astute of you… … I will be with the men shortly. Go and make sure that fool Charon doesn't do anything stupid."

Saturn nodded curtly and left. Cyrus picked open his phone and dialed the number of his own office phone back in his official Headquarters.

"My, my, Cyrus- it isn't often that you call," the Madame purred over the phone.

"Tell Mars and Jupiter to clear the way to the Spear Pillar- I'll be there shortly," Cyrus commanded.

She paused for a moment. "Ah, so soon this silly fiasco will be behind us?"

"… Yes," Cyrus conceded bitterly.

"Good, good… Now, here's what I want you to do: if you are given the opportunity to die, and I mean that in a very caring way, take it."

Cyrus stood quietly, stunned by what she'd said. "_Die_? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, that if you have the chance to fake your own death- do it. It will do wonders in terms of getting the Guild off your back," she explained, no doubt twisting one of her black locks around her finger as she spoke.

"I… Understand… Goodbye, Madame," he finished snapping his cell shut. As he looked at the cameras around him, he saw Lucas coming and another infiltrator that he did not recognize. He turned away to go to the meeting room where most of his men would be gathered, all the while wanting to know what was going on in the harbor… As well as hoping that the thief would survive so he could kill the man himself.

* * *

Below the floors of Team Galactic's headquarters, the harbor was a mass of broiling chaos; its waters turning red as lifeless corpses were thrown in coldly. The fight was concentrated heavily in the center, but the battle that was even more serious took place on the side between two combatants locked in mortal combat that could only end in death.

With his beautiful, white katana, the Galactic henchmen had the advantage of a much longer reach, making it so Sam would have to stay within perfect range of the weapon to strike. He knew that it was his weakness and so did his opponent as he slashed and struck out with the long blade with elegant skill.

Sam simply focused on avoiding the snaking blade for now, dodging nimbly as he tried to find a weakness to exploit that would enable his survival in this fight. Sensing what his strategy was, the Galactic soldier lunged forward so suddenly Sam scarcely had time to react. Throwing his own dagger up, he caught the blade in parry and swerved it off course enough for the blade of the katana to rip past his side. With absolutely no remorse, Sam drove his other dagger into the man's vulnerable chest- fitting it between two rips up as far as it would go before prancing away from him.

Slightly panting from what had already been a long battle with something he was not used to, Sam watched as the man fell onto one knee, coughing blood up and his breath laboring harshly in his chest. Thinking that the fight was over, and relieved for this to be so, Sam exhaled slowly and relaxed his guard.

Then he heard the shaking laughter and the crunching of the grit on the sidewalk. Sam snapped his attention back to his supposedly defeated opponent with open shock.

The Galactic soldier stood up and pulled the blood covered blade from his chest and tossed it aside- sending it skidding across the harbor's cold concrete floor. "Hehehe… We're not done yet… And now you just lost your other weapon."

_Son of a bitch._ He tried dodged quickly as the white katana drove forward again, but was not near as successful as he had been and the blade plunged into his left shoulder. Sam staggered back and dislodged himself from the sword. _Has he gotten faster? _

They locked blades again, sparks flying from the two metals.

Across the war zone, Will pranced around on the deck of the ship as his brain conjured up scheme after scheme. He was mostly alone except for the captain of the ship- a Galactic worker who was tied to the railing upon being captured because Myra wanted to 'interrogate' him.

_Open the doors… Open the doors… Open the doors… The control board is probably gone… _He looked past the foray to where it probably was and saw the smoke rising from what was probably the ravaged controls. _Definitely can't use those…_

"Hey… Captain fella… How do you open the doors from the outside?" Will asked the hostage captain.

The poor man stared back at Will with a highly confused stare, the gag preventing him from speaking even if he wanted to.

"Well, maybe… Maybe…" His green eyes glossed over the ship, making note of the minor rigging. "Do you think if I tied a bomb to that rope and released it, sending it into the doors, it would blow them open?"

The captain shook his head, his following words a jumbled mess of grunts.

"You're absolutely right… I don't have a bomb, I forgot," Will responded, scratching his messy fop of light brown hair. The captain rolled his eyes and tried to say something else. Will stared at him. "What's that? Did you say that you have an idea?"

"Nnoummreemmph," he tried to respond, sarcasm dripping from his utter mess of English.

Will tapped his chin. "I'm going to have a look around. You stay right here and let me know if you have any more ideas."

* * *

Myra had walked away with a group of ten backing her- now she was down to eight as competent soldiers surged forward to try and get at Robert, who was heavily marked as the most dangerous combatant on the field.

She had seen the very solemn and dangerous man begin making his way towards her with his eyes set on Robert, but Sam had stopped him. As selfish as it sounded, she was glad that Sam was the one taking him on, but the battle was not going very well and she could tell he was struggling. Every once in a while, she would see the man fall and Sam step back like the battle was over, but every time he would get back up again.

As she lashed out with the barb-tailed whip known as the cat, she looked up at Robert to see his attention focused on picking off any stragglers or weak men in the field but he had no idea that Sam probably needed some help since their one-on-one battle hovered in Robert's blindspot. Over the foray, there was no way for her to tell him either as a competent looking soldier stepped forward. She snapped the whip at him, the tails wrapping around his thick neck and she yanked hard, pulling him towards the ground. Looking over him, she caught sight of a hulking monster plowing through the sprawling war-zone. Bodies of their own soldiers and Galactic men alike were thrown into the air roughly as he stamped forward. Myra traced his path with her eyes and saw the flash as Lucy's pike rose into the air with a flailing soldier on it.

She considered crying out a warning to Lucy, but the soldier she had caught in her whip's embrace was fighting back with wild strength. It was not necessary as Lucy had seen the oddly dressed monster of a man rampaging towards her. She banished her pike with a wild war cry.

"Aahyeelia! Come on, you ugly brute!" The battle around them moved away from them, providing a large space in the middle for them alone as no one wanted to be caught in that fight. Lucy and the beast squared off, meeting each other's eyes perfectly and without fear. Like two bulls they ran at each other; his fists ready and her pike strong at her side. As she reached halfway to him, she dug the point into the ground and vaulted high into the air, flipping the pike around with the sharpened point aimed straight at his broad back.

Everyone who saw gaped, the resounding crack causing everyone to grimace as the hulking monster caught Lucy in the air and threw her down on the ground with insane force. Grey, who had been beside Lucy the entire time for protection now stood by, her features paling in fear. Lucy coughed and tried to get up gamely. She'd landed on her side which saved her from having an artery pinched and bleeding to death. The monstrous hulk waited until she was finally on her hands and knees before stomping his massive foot on her back, crushing her again.

He took her prized pike and broke it over his knee like a toothpick, tossing the two halves away before stomping on her still form one more time. Lucy screamed in agony, writhing on the ground as she tried to get back up but was clearly unable.

The hulk smirked down at her evilly. "Huhhuh… Lil' gurl norra so good." His crazed eyes remained only on Lucy as he began to trample her into the ground.

Grey stood stock-still as she watched- fear coursing through her young veins. As she watched tears filled her eyes for Lucy and perhaps for her very soul's realization of her lost innocence. Lucy, beaten and bloody, still looked up at her, pain in her chocolate brown eyes, and mouthed 'run' to her. Even if she had wanted to, Grey couldn't.

From her fear, she drew upon another emotion- Anger. Anger that this monster was hurting her friend, anger that he was picking on someone weaker than himself, anger that she was afraid of him.

Grey scanned the area quickly and saw the broken half of Lucy's pike.

* * *

Will returned to the deck of the ship, pacing yet again as he still couldn't come up with an idea. He continuously scratched his head and his hair was even messier than it had been. A part of his brain felt like it had almost all the pieces, but it wasn't quite there yet. As he paced to the aft of the ship, he suddenly caught sight of the great steel propeller. His normally squinty eyes widened.

"That's it!"

Will sprinted back to the tied up Captain. "Can you steer the ship?"

"Mmgph?"

"I need you to get this ship sailing and if you help me, I'll let you go," Will bargained.

The Captain stared at him with that wide-eyed 'are you out of your mind?' look for several moments before shrugging and nodding in compliance.

"Great! Now come along you…" Will said, untying him from the railing he was tied to and tugging him along to the helm inside the room a few decks up. "You know, I just realized I haven't the foggiest idea what your name is… I'll call you Hugh because it sounds like 'you' and that is what I have been calling you."

'Hugh' sighed heavily but did as he was told by this strange man- the gag still tied roughly around his neck in some truly awesome knot courtesy of Myra. He started flipping certain switches as he powered up the ship's small but potent engines to turn the massive propeller and drawing up the anchor mechanically as well with help from the ship's crew of machamp, who were left alone upon Sam's orders.

Slowly, the ship pulled away from the docks and glided through the waters of the still harbor. Hugh looked at Will questioningly. "Wmphaawphggn?"

"Straight up to the doors… Backwards."

Hugh shook his head in disbelief but prepared to turn the ship so the aft would be against the door once they reached it. He didn't care if this guy got himself killed; Hugh was already working out an escape in his head.

"Stay here, Hugh, I've got to get everything ready," Will told him as he clapped him on the back as Sam had done to him earlier and shot off to the propeller. Watching the massive steel blades cutting through the water, he knew they'd be strong enough to cut through the iron- or explode trying. However now he faced a new problem.

"That isn't going to reach the door," he mused aloud. "The ship needs to be tilted… Tilted…" He caught sight of the huge anchor and smiled deviously.

It was truly a mystery to everyone on what Will was doing. Conrad had seen the ship pull out after Will ran the length of the ship numerous times. As it approached the door, he watched as it started to turn. _What the hell is that screw-loose doin'? The back of the ship is going to hit the door…_

Conrad's break from battle was cut short as another wave turned around, realizing that they were pressed on both sides. Wielding dual daggers he sliced and slashed through unsuspecting backs. As he pressed forward every so slowly he caught sight of wavy dark brown hair and a hazel brown aviator jacket tearing through ranks like a whirling tornado. He was going to be impressed until he saw the hulking toxicroak pursuing her and realized that she was fleeing, not fighting. He recognized her as the girl who had offered her Mawile, but the pokémon was engaged in battle with the bronzong while the quagsire was pitted against the purugly, leaving the little shuppet nipping uselessly at the poisonous pokemon's heels.

Conrad grabbed her arm and swung her aside so the pokemon's toxic claw would miss her. "Little miss, what do ye think yer doin'?"

"I-I had to g-get him away from the o-others…" she panted.

Conrad pulled her down to duck as a claw reached for her again. "An what exactly was your plan?"

Nolyn grabbed him this time and took off running after kicking the toxicroak to further anger it. "If I c-can get it t-to follow m-me back here, R-Robert c-c-can shoot it without t-t-the p-poison landing on a-anyone."

Conrad followed her, huffing and panting, his normally ruddy face scarlet from exertion. They ran to the far back where no one else was around. Nolyn backed up against the door in the wall, staring the pokémon down as the shuppet continually burned and screeched at the toxicroak.

"So 'ow are we supposed to get Robert's attention?" Conrad asked skeptically, fear rising as the poisonous thing got closer.

Nolyn drew in a long breath into her powerful lungs and yelled his name as loud as she possibly could and as long as she could. Conrad jumped back and held his ears, never suspecting the quiet girl to ever make a sound that loud. Even the toxicroak was stunned for a moment.

Hearing Nolyn's cry, Robert snapped his bow and gaze in her direction and pulled the bow back as far as it would go and took careful aim and waited for Nolyn to move.

She grabbed Conrad's hand and steadied him as the pokémon resumed its advance. "Wait…"

"Nolyn… We need to run," Conrad whispered urgently.

Nolyn stood perfectly still. "Wait… …" The pokémon stood almost directly in front of them and pulled its claw back for a strike. "Now!" She pushed him aside and leaped out of the way. The pokemon's poisonous slash that was meant for them hit the door instead. Hardly a second after that, an arrow embedded itself so deep that the shaft was barely visible through the pokemon's neck. The sac in its neck burst and coated the steel in corrosive acid.

Robert turned his gaze from them and shot another exploding arrow into a pack of Galactic soldiers far off. He was about to notch one of his last arrows when he realized that he had seen something else in the corner of his eye. He turned to see the fight between Sam and a truly fierce competitor: a battle that Sam was losing.

Blood dripped from the dozens of wounds they'd inflicted on each other- neither giving nor asking for a quarter. Sweat and blood dripped in Sam's eyes as the last reserves of his strength faded. Or had it already? His hands were numb from the jarring blows and he felt every hit travel through him and jolt his wounds. Seeing strike coming at him, he parried and their weapons locked.

But the other man had far more strength left and Sam was continually being pushed back, step at a time. It only took him a moment to realize that he was going to be pushed into the wall. In a desperate attempt to simply save himself, he collapsed to the ground, landing on his back and kicking the other man with his feet and sending him crashing overhead.

Neither man got up with their usual speed, but the other man was faster as Sam slowly rolled on his side and tried to reign in enough energy to get up.

"It's over now… You've lost," the man's flat, cold voice announced emotionlessly as he looked down on him.

Sam inched his hand back for a throwing knife but before he could even touch one, he heard the arrow fly overhead and the _thonk_ as it rammed through the skull of the other man. Normally, Sam would have expected him to fall immediately, but this man was something else entirely.

He staggered back, the arrow gauging into his brain. With a surge of inhuman capabilities, he raised the sword over his head to strike Sam before finally falling back, seemingly dead this time.

Sam turned around to look at Robert and flashed a thumbs-up for the help. No longer in mortal danger, he took his time getting up, though all of muscles protested the action. He eyed the body of his fallen opponent suspiciously- not trusting the man to stay dead after everything he'd already put up with. Cautiously, Sam approached the man and, for good measure, took the katana ran it through the man's heart.

"Damn zombie-soldier," he cursed, feeling mildly better with that out of his system. A part of him wanted to rejoin the fight, and yet a much wiser side of him just wanted to enjoy a well-deserved rest. He leaned against the wall and was more than happy to not move until he saw the giant of a man he'd seen earlier and the flash of what appeared to be Lucy's pike… In Grey's hands.

Tightening her small hands around the cold steel, Grey snuck around the hulking brute. "You giant ass, ugly as hell son of a bitch," she growled under her breath to give herself courage. She clambered up on his back, so light that he didn't even feel her, and, with a moment's hesitation, plunged the broken pike into the back of his shoulder and clung to it for dear life as he lurched in pain.

"Dammmnn it!" Grey yelled loudly, anger burned in her gut, but fear filled her heart. She closed her eyes tightly so she couldn't see what was happening.

The man tried to reach back and grab her, but couldn't because of the pike and he was not even remotely flexible. He was so distracted by her that he failed to watch his surroundings. Both he and Grey only heard someone skid nearby. With one dagger, Sam cut across the man's torso in an uppercut and slashed horizontally with his other blade right after that. Blood and of his internal organs spilled out of the gaping wounds.

Grey screamed as the brute started to fall backwards. Sam grabbed the man by the collar of his vest and controlled his landing so she wouldn't be crushed. Once she was safely on the ground, she looked at him, her pale, ice blue eyes filling with tears, and she ran to him for a hug and he knelt down for her since she was so much shorter than he was.

"I… I was so scared," she cried, hugging him tightly, feeling his warmth and the blood that steadily seeped through the fabric of his torn clothes. He hugged her back gently, knowing that Grey usually didn't break like this and she definitely needed him right now, as she had no one else. After sobbing for a few minutes, regardless of the fight that was still raging around them, she stepped back and wiped her eyes with her bloodied hands. Suddenly she remembered. "… Lucy," she whispered, terrified, but she looked anyway at the broken, limp body lying on the ground.

Sam had already seen and didn't turn to look. He turned her face back to him. "Grey… Don't look, okay. She'll be all right," Sam assured her, knowing that it was a lie. There was no way Lucy could be okay. Grey looked at him searchingly.

Conrad and Nolyn ran up to them, having seen Grey try and take on the massive man. As soon as he got close, Conrad's eyes went straight to Lucy. Nolyn averted her gaze and focused only on Grey, holding the young girl's shuppet.

"H-here, y-y-your pokémon…" Nolyn stammered quietly. Grey hugged her shuppet, named Grudge close and began shaking suddenly, emotion tugging at her tough affront.

Nolyn looked to Sam, unsure and shy. Sam put a hand on both of the girl's shoulders comfortingly and maintained a kind and confident affront for them. "Nolyn… Take Grey and go to the docks- make sure she's okay."

Nolyn nodded and took the girl's hand and guided her through the fray, defending them both as she did so. Sam sighed heavily, not wanting to look back at the crumpled form that used to the ever-strong and brave Lucy. As he looked up, he caught sight of the ship they'd come in on backed up against the wall and he could just barely make out the anchor that was moving across the deck, causing the little boat to tip its nose into the water a little farther.

_What the hell is Will doing?_

Will instructed the machamp to keep moving the anchor, the deck tipping at a steeper angle as the anchor was moved from its balance point and taken to the very front of the ship. Though confused, the pokémon did as they were bidden. Hugh stood with Will, thoroughly terrified at this point as Will had tied him to the base of the steam pipe again.

Once the machamp were at the bowsprit, Will finished tying his own lifeline. "Now release it!" he ordered cheerfully. The machamp exchanged confused glances and the released the anchor over the ship's bowsprit.

The anchor didn't drop far into the water on its shortened chain, but it was heavy enough and intent on getting to the bottom that it continually pulled the ship down with it. As the boat nosed down, everything in the hold (and there was a lot) started slipping down. Will had cut the supports that held the crates and had some machamp knock down all the walls so nothing could stop anything on the ship from falling to the nose. And the more that fell, the more the ship tipped. Within moments, the back half of the boat was up in the air and the propeller was biting into the door viciously. Will hung from his lifeline, his feet no longer able to touch the deck that was slanted at a 70-degree angle in the water.

"WHOOOOOOO- YEAH!" he hollered, throwing his hands up in the air like it was a rollercoaster ride. Hugh screamed and sobbed from his spot, scared out of his wits.

Sparks flew in cascades as diamond dusted steel met iron in ear-splitting screeches. Slowly but surely, the propeller cut into the iron, every blade scarring the rusted door further until the sun's light poured in.

The propeller kept turning and slashing, but smoke was rising and small flares of fire started appearing. Once the slash in the door was about the size of the propeller that made it, the smoke gave way to a shattering blast as the propeller and the engine blew up.

Sam and Conrad as well as everyone else gaped at the scene, holding their ears to block out the grating noises. Once the smoke and steam cleared, broad daylight beamed through the massive hole- and just outside was a ship that contained the Guild's saving company. Only a sinking skeleton of the steamboat remained. Sam felt a pang of guilt as realized that Will was probably dead.

"Well… He was the only one crazy enough to do that," Conrad commented, thinking the same thing Sam did.

"I know… But I was the one who told him to stay aboard," Sam replied with a tired sigh.

Conrad remained respectfully silent for a moment before murmuring, "He wasn't the only one who died today."

Sam flinched and looked over at Lucy. Carefully and solemnly, he approached her fallen form, her beautiful amber hair strewn on the cement ground. As he knelt beside her, he heard the rasping breath rattling in her bruised lungs. _She's still alive?!_

She looked up at him with her eyes, but didn't move so much as another muscle. "Sss… Sam?"

"Lucy… Arceus…" he breathed, seeing the disfigurement the hulk had done to her.

"Th… That bad… Huh?" she murmured with a dry laugh that cut off as she grimaced. "I… I can't feel it… I can't feel any of it."

Sam looked at Conrad- both knew why. Her whole back was crumbled mess and they could tell through her clothes. Lucy was paralyzed if she even survived to make it out here- and even that wasn't likely.

"D… Don't pity me like that," Lucy growled gamely, seeing the looks on their faces. Sam grimaced as he looked back at her. Her expression softened. "I… Don't want to live the… rest of… my life in a… hospital… Pl… Please…" she whispered haltingly as she slowly slipped away.

Sam nodded, but Conrad had no idea what was going on. He picked up both halves her prized pike and brought it back to her, wrapping her hand around the half that he'd pulled from the back of the brute.

"W…Whose… Blood…?"

"That giant thing's," Sam responded, the other half held out of her sight.

She laughed harshly. "Good…" Sam flinched at the sound and his hand tightened on the pike. With a burst of final resolve he slammed the point of the pike deep at the base of her skull, killing her quickly and painlessly. Conrad looked away, shaking his head sadly. Sam stood up quietly after closing her lifeless eyes as pokémon raced past him, finishing off the last of the soldiers. A ragged cheer went up from the thieves left alive and conscious, some carrying the limp bodies of unconscious buddies, as the Colonels plus Captain Volkner loosed their saving pokémon.

Myra approached Sam and Conrad carefully, Robert following behind her, both solemn as they saw Lucy.

"Let us not linger here," Myra said quietly pulling on Sam's sleeve. He didn't react other than to flick his gaze to her for a moment.

Robert looked to the harbor. "The Colonels are here… They'll probably want something else now," he observed emotionlessly.

Sam looked back at them and Conrad clapped him on the shoulder as he saw the muscles in his jaw tighten. "C'mon, boy… Let's get the hell out of here."

Slowly, the two groups met, Lucian apparently in charge of the Colonels as they all walked on to watch their pokémon. Olivia was with them to guide them through the Headquarters, she looked at Sam with open concern, but he ignored her.

Lucian stopped before them. "We will be taking over here now… We'll get your men back to safety and get them all doctors," Lucian informed them business-like, the purple ringlets of hair slightly out of place from the wind and his maroon suit wet with sea spray.

"Ver is Cyntia?" Myra asked coldly, looking around for tall blonde woman.

"She is not here… Which is why I am in charge. Cynthia went to Spear Pillar and I need you fi… Four to go and protect her, Riley's orders," Lucian said respectfully, eyeing the wounded and exhausted team with sympathy. "We have pokémon prepared to take you there immediately… And I must ask that you leave straight away… Take care," Lucian finished.

Myra snorted indignantly. "Vy is he makink us do it?" she asked angrily.

Robert watched the less experienced thieves limped past. "Because we're strong enough… We are the only ones who can take it," he said simply.

Sam looked at him, realizing that Robert was subtly telling him to sit this mission out if he couldn't handle it. As the pain of all of his injuries started to surface, he pushed it back down and tried to ignore it and walked forward to the ship without a word.

Cyrus would be at Spear Pillar- they'd already lost Lucy, he wasn't about to let them take on Cyrus without him when they'd known all along that they needed all five of them to take down Cyrus, and now they were one fierce woman short. As Sam passed the docks, there was a rippling in the water and out of the water, Will appeared, a few scorch marks on his face.

Sopping wet, he grinned at them and saluted. "Opened the doors, Sam… Whew… That wasn't so hard."

* * *

Wounded and bleeding, the four thieves arrived at Spear Pillar. They'd seen the volts, the tears in the fabric of space and time, the Lake Trio appear and now they stood on the distorted ground alone… Jupiter and Mars had fled as soon as they arrived. Conrad inspected the black shadowy oil that had stained the ancient tiles of the temple area.

Myra shook her head with distaste, trying to hide that she was scared as the world around them fell apart. "I am not likink dis," Myra remarked. Conrad looked at the whirling void in from of them; a black hole in the dimensions of time and space.

Robert shrugged. "I am guessing that our general was more than willing to jump in there… Which is likely where Lucas and probably even Cyrus went. Cynthia and Lucas can protect themselves with their pokémon, there's no need for us to follow. There's nothing here for us to fight…"

Behind them, Sam was trying to keep himself standing and their ensuing argument was lost on him. He didn't hear a word. He could only feel the growing acknowledgement of the dull roar of pain coursing through him and the faint feeling as he continually lost more blood.

Completely unaware of how much time had passed, he suddenly had Conrad in front of him and vaguely realized that he was on his knees. Conrad slipped an arm around him and pulled him to his feet. Anything Conrad said was completely lost in his disoriented state.

* * *

On the flipside of the universe, Cynthia was also disoriented. She had willingly jumped into this world of distorted reality and now her spinning head couldn't take the insanity of this place. Lucas fought and defeated Giratina; the battle a solid grounding point for her thoughts. Once the shadowy pokémon of this odd world disappeared into the abyss of it's own making, Cynthia leaped over the rocks to go to the solemn boy.

He kept his back to her even though she was speaking. Normally that would irritate her, but she was too excited right now.

"Giratina seems to have understood us!" she perceived, knowing that the pokémon had felt their resolve and it was that determination to save and pureness of heart that had forced the pokémon back, its power to great to be surpassed.

"That pokémon. That shadowy pokémon was defeated?!"

Cynthia and Lucas both whirled around to see the source of the disbelieving voice to be Cyrus. He leap forward on the rocks coolly, but his eyes… His pale eyes told a different story: One of wrathful vengeance.

Standing before him, he looked past Cynthia to the somber boy who gazed back at him in cool defiance and reflecting the blue swirls of gas and floating blue crystal islands. "Your doing so means this irrational world will remain in existence," Cyrus remarked caustically. "Does that make it impossible for me to create a new world?"

"Even if I made new Red Chains, the new world can't be made!" His voice started raising as anger seeped through his cold composure. "Why?! What compels you to protect the two worlds? Is spirit, a vague and incomplete thing, so important to you?!" he asked angrily, his gaze flickered from Lucas to Cynthia.

Cynthia caught the hidden message in his words. He was asking her why the Guild was so resilient. Why they refused to give in to him. Why the Guild would not hand over the world to him. The words of the basis of the Guild's purpose came to her and she feel the pride and reverence fill her heart.

"… The places we are born. The time we spend living… The languages we speak… We are all different. But the presence of Pokemon unites us. We share our lives with our Pokemon, and our happiness grows as we all become greater than we were alone. That is why we can battle and trade with anyone we choose…" _No, it's why we will never give in to you- you who wishes to destroy. We will never sacrifice the people of this world to you who lacks compassion. The Guild has always protected the people of the regions.  
_

"Silence! Enough of your blathering!" Cyrus cut into her words. "That's how you justify spirit as something worthwhile?! That is merely humans hoping, deluding themselves that they are happy and safe!" he sneered at her. She said nothing and she didn't even feel angry, and she could tell that her lack of response irritated him greatly.

"The emotions roiling inside me… Rage, hatred, frustration… These ugly emotions arise because of my own incomplete spirit!" He paused and sighed, as if tired of trying to explain something to a child. "… Enough. We will never see eye to eye. This, I promise you. I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my complete and perfect world. One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit." With those final words, he left.

Lucas accepted his message for what it appeared to be, but Cynthia knew better. Those words were meant for her. _"I will uncover everything you've done, everything you've tried to hide and I will exploit it. I will defeat you and take this world for myself. And when I do, you will awaken to the hell and humiliation you've put me through."_

Cynthia stared after him quietly and suddenly remembered words her grandmother had said to her long ago when, after the horrible year in which both her parents died in a horrible accident, and she wished that every other person in the world would die with them. "… … Since there is sadness, we can feel joy. When there is anger, compassion is born… "

She turned back to Lucas and motioned at the glowing white orb behind him. "Let's go back home. The portal where Giratina was should lead back to our world. Giratina was written as being on the other side of our world. It stands to reason that it has a link to the other side."

Lucas nodded in agreement and turned to the portal and leaped in without fear. Cynthia followed close behind him.

Cyrus saw them leave. As soon as they did, he approached the portal; hearing distorted and clipped versions of their voices. He waited patiently. Looking down, he saw the swirling form of the ghostly pokémon Giratina. Hearing the conversation die, he looked back into the white portal and saw Lucas disappear on a bird pokémon he couldn't make out. Cynthia lingered for a few moments after- all he could see was the general shape of her, and then she too left.

"And now I am dead to them…" he muttered under his breath before leaping through the portal himself.

* * *

**AN: **And... There you have it! ... Just kidding. There are still two more chapters yet before the Epilogue. After all, I have hardly begun to wrap this story up. But, since we're getting close to the end of this arc, it's time to let you know that Unova is coming up!  
-It will be 17 chapters long (Did anyone besides me notice that I have an affinity for 17?) and the chapters are going to vary heavily in length but most of them will be shorter than Sinnoh's. Unova, though, will be far more... Suspenseful. There's really only one filler chapter and even that one has a very specific purpose. So... Yeah. It'll be fun! I'm excited.

**Grey** is from **PikaKnight**

**Will** is from **guisniperman**

**Olivia** **Kenney** is from **DarkAngelTorchic**

**Nolyn** **Goulding** is from **Noir's Revenge**

Also, big thank you to **DarkAngelTorchic**! My lovely beta and friend!

And on a random side note... The combination of great violin playing and dubstep is freaking _EPIC_.

**Thank you for reading and for the reviews last week!**


	20. Chapter 20

No copyright infringement.

**Long chapter- you've been warned.

* * *

Though the harbor was eventually won, Team Galactic dug their heels in _hard_. They refused to give in and they just kept fighting. Conrad, Myra, Robert, and Sam were given some down time to stitch their wounds, but, unfortunately, no more time could be afforded to them and they were needed back in the fight to ensure that no one else would die. Myra had protesting hotly on Sam's behalf, though he repeatedly told her not to and just let it go. Logically, Robert and Conrad were given the hard missions and Sam took all the small jobs.

Galactic outbursts flared through the region, but none of the outbreaks involved the soldiers, just grunts who wanted to fight. It was almost eleven when Sam finally returned. It was almost midnight now.

Matt was on his laptop, digging up information and records regarding Mt. Coronet- a project that had been in the works since Sam went into the mountain's atrium the first time. Sam had mentioned it briefly when he returned.

His work now was disturbed as Riley and Steven walked in after knocking respectfully. At seeing the pair, Matt smiled immediately. "Hey guys! What can I do you for?"

Riley rubbed the back of his neck almost sheepishly. "Well, I- We were looking for Sam."

Matt's smile immediately turned to a suspicious look. "Why?"

"I just want to make sure he's okay," Steven said, honest concern showing on his face.

Riley shrugged. "I just wanted to talk to him about Team Galactic's final headquarters… And tell him that he can go home… If I really need him again- I'll call him back, but for now, he's done his part."

Matt relaxed. "Oh… Because if you thought you were going to ask him to do some other mission… I was totally going to freak out. I mean, for Arceus' sake, he needs a break!"

Steven grimaced, the look of concern more prominent on his face. "So where is he? Is he okay?"

"He is totally out-cold on the couch over there," Matt answered with a point to the couch hidden completely behind the large desk. "He came in around 11, said something about Mt. Coronet, then he was asleep in seconds… Poor guy."

Steven walked around the desk carefully and, sure enough, Sam was laying the couch with both Michael and Cat curled up beside him. One arm had fallen over the edge while he was asleep. His jacket was draped over a nearby chair and his boots were lying where they'd been dropped, but he was still wearing everything else since he had probably not intended on falling asleep.

Steven ran a hand through his platinum hair ruefully, seeing the bandages all over him.

"He still asleep?" Matt asked hopefully.

"Yeah…"

Matt nodded. "Good. He needs to stay asleep. I don't think he's slept a proper forty winks for a while now."

Steven shook his head in disapproval. "He needs to take better care of himself."

"Cut him some slack- I really don't think he can trying to work with the crazy schedule you guys cut out for him," Matt answered with a huff and a mildly accusing glance at Riley, who flinched at the look.

"I guess… He just never really complains and tells me that it's fine," Riley admitted.

Steven chuckled as he leaned against the desk. "Well, that's where you make your mistake: Sam does not complain about anything... Well, except being cold."

Riley smiled a little bit. "Heh… Yeah… Well, we're out of the woods so he has plenty of time to recover now." He started to leave and noticed that Steven wasn't coming. "Steven?"

Matt looked up at him confused. Steven shrugged off their looks with a gentle smile. "He always looks like a kid again when he's sleeping… … Hang on sec, Riley." Carefully, he set his arm back up on couch. Normally that would wake Sam up instantly, but he didn't even open his eyes for a second. Steven took the jacket off the chair and draped it over his shoulders, tucking it in just enough to make sure it wouldn't fall off.

As he started to turn away, he saw the file that Sam was apparently reading before he fell asleep. Some of the papers were scattered. Steven picked up the loose papers and the file carefully, reading it as he walked away.

He looked at Matt with wonder after reading some of the pages. "Does he think the base is at Mt. Coronet?"

Matt shrugged. "I guess so… I'm still trying to confirm any unusual signals and stuff but he seems to think that's where they might be. He's still working on that theory."

Riley walked over to Steven quickly, intrigued, and read through the collection of past incidents and crimes around the mountain range and all reports regarding 'strange activity' that Sam had gathered. "Has anyone checked it out yet?" Riley questioned.

Matt shook his head. "Just Sam… And it was just a brief deal. So… You know. Once we know what's going on…"

Steven and Riley exchanged glances. "Do you think he'll mind if we take it?" Riley asked.

Matt waved at them dismissively. "He's asleep, Riley. I'm pretty sure he won't even know it's gone till he wakes up… Hopefully around noon tomorrow. Thirteen hours of sleep would be good for him."

Riley took the file from Steven and left. Once they were outside, Riley tapped the file's edge on his chin thoughtfully. "Do you think we should go check it out?"

"You mean, send a team out to do it?" Steven asked, a wave of confusion flickering over his face.

"… No… We've pretty much exhausted our forces at the moment… I was just thinking that, surely, between the two of us and our pokémon, we could go there and find out if it's true about them being there or not…" Riley explained. "But maybe that's silly…"

Steven shrugged. "Well, if you want to, I think we could manage… A walk around the mountain couldn't hurt anything."

Riley grinned. "Good because I'd like to explore this myself."

"Hey, the sooner we find them the better… But exactly how are you going to determine if they're there or not?"

"As many men as they would have plowing around through there, I imagine my Lucario could smell them easy enough," Riley replied simply, gesturing at the Lucario that was always shadowing him like a watchful protector. "What side of the mountain are you thinking?"

Steven pursed his lips into a fine line as he thought it over, imagining the whole mountain in his head and putting the reports with the proper areas. "I… Would say the Celestic Town entrance. A lot of these reports are centered around the lowest floor with the fog… I think that's where we should start."

"Then let's go!" Riley said cheerfully.

Steven gave him a suspicious look. "You're only doing this because you want to get away from your mom, aren't you?"

Riley flinched. "She's driving me insane…" He confessed.

Steven shook his head, chuckling. "Alright, alright… Let's go."

* * *

Matt had fallen asleep over his computer when Cynthia stormed into the room two hours or so later. She shook him roughly to wake him up.

"Matt. Matt, wake up. NOW," she commanded.

He blinked a few times and sat up in chair before looking at her dazedly. Her normally long, neat, beautiful blonde hair was in a very messy braid and she was still in her pajama pants.

"Cynthia… ? What do you want?" he asked, his speech a little slurred.

She leaned on his desk so she was very close to his face, her eyes burning with worry that was driving her impatience and irritation. "Where are Riley and Steven? Do you have any idea? And Sam- no one has seen him since he returned."

Matt yawned, sleepily. "Sam is out stone-cold on the couch over there. He's been there since he got back."

Cynthia left Matt to check to make sure. Sam was still there and still asleep. Cat was curled up behind his back and Michael draped over his feet. Michael opened one eye halfway to look at her and growl before settling back down to sleep.

She backed away quietly so she wouldn't disturb him at all. Matt was already dozing off again. "Matt!" she whispered urgently at him.

"What?" he answered sleepily.

"Where are Riley and Steven?" she asked again.

Matt stared at her blankly. "How would I know? Probably asleep… Did you check their beds? Yeesh."

"We've looked everywhere! They aren't here, Matt!"

"Well, maybe Riley went on a secret date with Cheryl…"

Cynthia slapped him gently, but hard enough to wake him up a little more. "Seriously, Matt! Cheryl is here and she's alone. They left around midnight but we don't know where and they aren't answering their cell phones. We can't even reach the trace in their phones! They've gone missing! And nobody knows what happened and that was two hours ago!"

Matt's eyes suddenly widened as the desperation of the situation finally hit him. "Ohmigosh… Are you serious? They…"

"Yes! Do you know where they went?" Cynthia asked, almost begging.

He ran his hands through his curly hair and bit his lip. "I… We were talking about Mt. Coronet and how it might be the base of Team Galactic and… I don't know, but they might have gone there to check it out."

Cynthia's grey eyes widened. "The base might be there? If they went there… And it was… Oh no… No, no, no… This is bad." She looked as if she were about to cry as panic surged through her. She slowly calmed herself and relaxed into a more commanding state that was natural for her. "Matt, stay here… I'm going to go check it out."

"Aren't you going to take some thieves with you? I don't think you should go alone-"

"No… I'll go alone. We don't have a single man or woman to our name that isn't injured in some way. I'll go; my pokémon will be able to protect me," she said, confidence returning to her voice. She walked out then, leaving Matt alone and fidgeting over his computer.

"Oh… Boy… … Alright- pep talk time, Matt. It'll be okay. Steven and Riley are both incredibly competent trainers and so is Cynthia. They'll be okay. They'll come back and Sam won't even have to know they were ever in danger…" he rambled to himself for reassurance, though it wasn't helping. Unable to go back to sleep, he got back on his computer and resumed working furiously.

A few hours later, Matt was trying to gather the resolve and courage to wake Sam up and tell him that Riley, Cynthia, and Steven were missing, if not dead. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to sit down in front of him and poke his shoulder a few times timidly.

"S…. Sam?" Matt tried, shaking his shoulder very cautiously.

"Mmmm?"

Matt looked at the floor miserably. "Umm… So Riley, Steven, and Cynthia have gone missing…"

At first there was absolutely no reaction, then Sam bolted upright, shock clear on his face. "What?!"

Matt flinched. "I'm so sorry! You fell asleep and then Steven and Riley came in, and Steven was all worried about you and he found that file you put together on Mt. Coronet and was all like, 'what is this?' And I was like, 'I don't know.' And then Riley was like, 'can we take this' and I just said 'sure' because you were asleep. Then Cynthia came in all panicked and saying 'Steven and Riley are missing' and I was just like 'Omigosh, what?' and then I told her about Mt. Coronet and she said she was going to go get them and I didn't know what to do so went back to looking at the mountain myself and I can confirm a large power supply fuels that mountain… … I'm SO sorry!"

"They went to Mt. Coronet? _By themselves?!_" Sam repeated in disbelief. "And Team Galactic is based there?"

Matt nodded meekly. "Yes!"

Sam jumped up off the couch, reaching for the chair where his jacket used to be before realizing that it had been moved to the couch with him. He snatched it, dully noting the bewildered looks Cat and Michael were giving him.

"How long have they been missing?" he asked quickly as he pulled his boots on and zipped up his jacket.

"Well… Riley and Steven have been missing since midnight and Cynthia went after them like three hours ago," Matt told him quietly.

Cursing under his breath, he grabbed the pokéball the contained the staraptor. "Okay, I'm going to find them. If I am not back or haven't contacted you in a hour, tell Lucian an get everyone in there and I'll try to find a way to leave clues for you."

Matt nodded without protesting. Michael started to get up to follow Sam, but he was noticed. "No- you two will both stay here until I come back," he commanded sternly before running outside quickly, despite his injuries, which, of course, had not healed overnight.

Reaching the outside of the Battle Tower, he released the staraptor and hopped on it's back, directing it to simply to go Mt. Coronet for the moment as he tried to recall what he'd read last night before apparently falling asleep. _Damn it… There was something about a lot of criminal activity and random oddities. _As he struggled to remember more, the mist-coated floor with the lake came to mind. _That's right… There were reports of drowning…_ He arrived at Mt. Coronet's cave entrance outside Celestic Town in record time, the staraptor compelled by the anxiety he felt from Sam.

Wasting no time, he ran inside, jumping over boulders and taking the slick stairs to the bottom floor with no regard for caution. The cave's natural mist was not as heavy- revealing that someone had cleared it recently, thus confirming his belief that this is where they went. The staraptor hopped down beside him and cleared the fog from the room so Sam would be able to see.

Sam put the staraptor into its pokéball and set it on the ground, leaving it to pick up later. More cautiously now, he inched forward, inspecting the ground for any trace that anyone had been there. He knelt down beside the stairs.

_These look like they've been heavily used… Soldiers coming in and out? _He picked up a piece of the stair that had chipped off and turned it over in his hand before looking around the room. A mere boot couldn't do that to some stairs, but the steel rings Steven wore on his sleeves could. _Did he slip and fall?_

Carefully, he walked down the stairs to the shore of the lake. The waters were a perfect teal color, but the water was still too cloudy to see the bottom. He looked carefully and didn't see any evidence that Steven had slid into the water after falling, which ruled out drowning. He knelt down on the beach, partially in the water, trying not to further irritate the gash he'd taken to his thigh since it was already hurting again. He let his hand drift in the water. Slowly, Magikarp rose to the surface brushing against his hand as they thought that it might be food.

As typical behavior goes, whenever Magikarp swarm around something, any nearby Gyarados become very curious. The royal blue head of a rather handsome female Gyarados rose from the deep lake that had formed from the abrupt drop-off. Seeing him, it moved closer cautiously. He didn't move other than to take his hand from the water and hold it out, palm up and talked to the dragon soothingly.

The Gyarados licked his palm as its way of 'smelling' him and eyed him carefully before nudging forward with a measure of trust. Sam climbed onto her massive head, taking care not to hurt her in the process, as their relationship of trust was rather fragile. He steered her towards the island in the middle and as she neared it, he could see something on the ceiling just above the wide rock formation.

Sam patted the head of the dragon and pointed to the top of the rock. Once they reached it, the Gyarados bunched up like a steep spring and launched her slippery body against rock. Once it reached the top, Sam hopped off, landing just a little awkwardly due to his injuries. As the Gyarados sunk back into the water, Sam gave a small salute of thanks.

Turning back to look at the ceiling, he could tell that there was a door there. A cleverly disguised door from a distance, but up close the 'secret' door wasn't much of a secret. Running parallel to the side of the latch, were five buttons of which only one would open the door while the other four would undoubtedly trigger an alarm or the big net that recently been re-covered with dirt.

_Well, all three of them were definitely captured, _he mused with an eye roll knowing that Steven and Riley didn't have the sense between them to never touch a random button. But they had and that now left him with the option of either trying to break in and hopefully find Steven, Riley, and Cynthia or purposefully get caught and find them that way… Or a combination of the two.

Sam pulled out his phone and quickly and wrote a quick message for that would open as soon as they found his phone and then set inside a hole he scuffed into the ground with the toe of his boot so the wrong person wouldn't see it.

He looked up at the buttons and pushed the newest-looking one, knowing that unused buttons would just stay there and collect dust.

"Matt, you had better show up in an hour," he muttered under his breath as he climbed up the ladder that shot down and right into the proverbial lion's den.

* * *

Alone in his sparsely furnished office, Cyrus reflected upon the appearance of the three. Steven Stone of Hoenn had been quite a surprise, though he claimed to have been searching for rare stones, which was not unbelievable. The man he had with him, however, was proving a mysterious force. Some grunts had reported seeing him at Iron Island. Cyrus had looked into the man and found… Absolutely nothing. The young man was either lying about his name or with the Guild in some fashion.

And then… Cynthia had shown up completely alone. That had been a fine and welcome catch, one that knew plenty of details regarding the Guild and all of its secrets. He cracked his knuckles systematically as he contemplated how he was going to get her to talk.

A sharp rap at the door announced Aaron- no one else knocked like that. It was such a distinct sound that Cyrus didn't even turn around to look, as was routine of the two men.

"Cyrus… There was a breach in our security, sir," Aaron reported stiffly.

Cyrus raised his eyes brows and looked at his loyal second in command emotionlessly, noting his ruffled appearance. "I assume that they have been apprehended?"

"Yes sir."

"Then why are you here?" he asked, turning away in disinterest.

"Sir, it is the thief who has been interfering and killing many of our men… I thought you might want to deal with him yourself," Aaron said simply, equally as cold as Cyrus.

Hearing that statement, Cyrus whipped around and stared at him with open surprise. "_He's _here? … Where are you holding him?"

"Ground floor where we managed to take him down, sir… He is a bit too much of a liability to move," Aaron answered with a tired sigh as he accompanied Cyrus to the elevator. Their base had four floors total and they were on the highest one. Lights and small beeps counted down to one as they descended quickly.

"I take it he's still alive?" Cyrus asked calmly.

"Very much so, unfortunately," Aaron answered dryly.

Cyrus chuckled darkly. "Good… …That's good."

Walking from the elevator, Aaron led him down the hall to the main 'atrium'. All along the walls were blood splatters and dead grunts.

Cyrus eyed the impressive damage. "So one man managed to do all this before he was caught?"

"He's also heavily injured from the harbor last night, if it matters to you," Aaron added grimly. "I managed to disarm him and get him down long enough that eight of our grunts were able to detain him."

Cyrus stepped into the atrium finally; its normally spotless white tile floors splattered with gore. Standing solid, blood running off wounds, some even from bandages already stained red, was that damned thief who had caused him so much trouble. His hands were cuffed together behind his back and two strong cords pinned his arms to his sides and the seven men surrounded him, all with a weapon aimed at him. Normally it would have been considered overkill, but in this case... Better safe than sorry.

Hearing him come into the room, the thief stood up perfectly straight, holding his chin at a proud angle and his eyes bright with that defiant fire that just never seemed to die.

"Well, well… If the ole' boss hasn't shown up to greet me… Your hospitality is certainly fantastic. Love what you've done with the place," he teased with a small smirk.

Cyrus smiled back at him as anger and rage and absolute raw hatred towards this man, this embodiment of the spirit he wanted to crush, surged forward. He walked forward slowly, every step deliberate. "It was much cleaner before you showed up here and put graffiti on my walls with the blood of my own soldiers," Cyrus returned, standing almost toe-to-toe with him now.

Cyrus was taller than him by a few inches and sported more muscle mass than him, but Sam was not even mildly fazed. The smirk on his face only deepened as if he were amused before he adopted a mock apologetic expression. "Oops… Sorry, my bad."

Trying to hide the anger inside, Cyrus allowed himself a small smile as he reminded himself that this man was entirely at his mercy… And soon enough that smirk would be wiped from his face. "You know… You're the fourth person to end up here… Why is that?"

Sam shrugged as best as he could through the ropes holding him. _Well… He already knows Cynthia is with the Guild. _"Well, obviously, I couldn't leave Cynthia in those sausage fingers of yours. So I was sent to come and get her… Clearly, that didn't work out quite as planned," he recounted, sounding very bored.

"Ah… And why did she come here?" Cyrus asked, considering what he said.

Instead of answering the question simply, he raised an eyebrow. "Hey, buddy- why don't you go ask the woman herself? Last I heard you had her locked up here somewhere."

Cyrus turned away as his hatred surfaced- not because Sam didn't answer, but because he completely disregarded him as a threat. Aaron's golden eyes widened as he saw the look on Cyrus's face.

Everyone heard the dagger unsheathe in a short screech and the flash as the lights reflected off the blade. Cyrus held it right as his throat. He watched Sam's expression change from carefree and sarcastic to completely serious, his eyes narrowed, but the determined glint only intensified.

"Maybe you don't understand this, but…" Cyrus began, pressing the sharp blade into his throat deep enough to draw blood but not kill him; with every word he moved the blade horizontally. "I am in charge here, _you_ are at _my_ mercy and I have nothing but hatred for you."

Sam managed a small grin and sneered at him, though a pained expression still showed through. "Hatred, huh? Why? Because I won't bow to you like all your 'loyal' grunts?" Cyrus paused. Sam continued with a short laugh. "Your army of grunts is a joke… Not even a very good one. You're in charge of a bunch of brainless puppets. You've got _nothing_."

Cyrus removed the blade from his throat and stepped back. "You won't bow, huh? That's fine, bowing isn't near humiliating enough. Kneel instead," he growled, his voice dark with rage.

Sam didn't move, he continued staring Cyrus down with unwavering strength. Cyrus nodded and one of his soldiers kicked him in the back of the knee. Sam had already foreseen the action and merely bent his knee so the blow was absorbed and he was still standing.

Cyrus was almost livid as Sam continued to glare at him, unafraid and undaunted.

"Lock him in a cell… The one closest to the interrogation room," Cyrus commanded, meeting Sam's glare levelly.

They tried to move him, pulling on the cords, but he stood immovable for a moment, conveying the challenge back that he was not in the least afraid better than any word or phrase could ever manage. Cyrus gritted his teeth in rage as Sam passed on his own accord- not by the will of anyone else.

"_I swear, I will destroy him…" _he vowed, a dark promise born from pure hatred.

* * *

Sitting in his desk chair comfortably, the Madame pondered how to handle this new dilemma that Cyrus had created for himself. She tapped her red nails on the glass top impatiently. Vidar watched from her side with wide blue eyes, sensing his mother's annoyance and knowing how dangerous that was. Finally the door opened and Cyrus strode in, small splatters of blood on his white shirt and khaki slacks. He stopped in surprise when he noticed her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, irritated that she had broken into his office… Again.

She looked at him sternly, her crimson eyes intense with contained malice. "Cyrus… My dear boy, how many times must I tell you to clear all actions with me?"

"What have I done this time?" he asked, a question he had to ask her more than he'd care to admit. "I captured some thieves who came knocking at our door? What's wrong with that?"

She stood up, her palms face down on the table. "You did not catch 'some' thieves. You caught _one_ and Cynthia- do you have _any_ idea who the other two are?"

Cyrus stood quietly, taking her scolding in as there were lessons to be learned from her and he was growing to respect her advice, even if he _really_ didn't want to hear it. "You kidnapped _Steven Stone_ and busted his kneecap in your Arceus-damned 'interrogation'. _Steven. STONE._"

"Madame, I know who he is," Cyrus returned coolly as her venomous words lashed at him.

"The hell you do! Did you know that he is THE most powerful man in the world? THE most well-loved icon? He's a damn celebrity and you _kidnapped _him!" she hissed.

Cyrus stood silent for a few moments. "As soon as he got here, Cynthia showed up. Surely that means something… What if he's part of the Guild?"

"I don't care if he's the head of the Guild! If you so much as touch that man, you'll bring every man, woman, army, and police force down on our heads in a matter of seconds." Cyrus began to protest against her, but she didn't allow him. "So _of course_ Cynthia would come after him. If Steven can find your silly hideout traipsing about a cave looking for rocks then the Guild knows where you are now too. If she thought he was in danger it stands to perfect reason that she would come looking for him," she finished, the crimson eyes seemed to glow with wrath as she glowered at him. Vidar was hiding behind the chair out of sight.

"There was another man with him… He says his name is Riley, but there's no record of him anywhere and we only saw him once at Iron Island and he was against us…" Cyrus tried, slowly realizing the depth of the hole he had dug for himself.

Madame rolled her eyes impatiently and snapped at him, "He's a steel-type trainer _like Steven__._ He's probably Steven's apprentice! And what was it that he got? A broken arm and a black eye now?"

"It's not broken," Cyrus muttered under his breath. She gave him a heavily sarcastic glare and he sighed. "So what was I supposed to do? They opened the door to our base?!"

She released a calming breath that shook with her anger. "You had plenty of options- locking the door for starters. Or scaring them off with numbers. Better yet, I bet you could have sat down and had a very civil discussion and then called me, as I have prepared a new, more secure hideaway far away from here."

Cyrus grimaced at the mention of the lock- he had been confident that the door wouldn't be discovered… Confidence didn't keep intruders out, obviously. "So what do we do now, providing the sky doesn't fall on our heads?" he asked wearily, hating every moment of being under her thumb.

"You're going to let them go, with all the respect and dignity that should be afforded to a man of Steven's stature," she stated, calmer now. She straightened up into proper posture and smoothed the front of her silk, black dress.

Cyrus turned to leave, but she stopped him. "Oh, no. We are not done here yet."

Cyrus glared at her, his patience gone and tired of taking her orders. "What is it now?"

"Whose blood is that?" she asked pointedly.

Cyrus smirked just a little bit. "The lowly thief, so don't worry about it."

"Oh, I'm going to worry. Sit. _Now_," she commanded sternly. Slowly, he walked to a chair in front of his desk that was normally reserved for a reporting grunt. She walked around to the front of the desk and leaned against the top, half sitting, as she considered how to effectively convey her words.

"Look… Cyrus, my dear, I know why you have your little… one-sided cage match with that man…"

"And why would that be?" he asked flatly, his eyebrows raised.

"I know Mummy and Daddy were disappointed in you- you weren't smart enough at school, right? Wasn't that the lie that has been fed to people? But you and I know better… I have done a conclusive amount of digging about you... And your recent actions only confirmed my thoughts… I've talked to your guards, the few that could stomach watching you try and beat the pride out of a fellow man and you are… Remarkably… _Honorable._"

Cyrus narrowed his eyes, a flash of confusion at having that particular adjective tacked to his name. She continued, undeterred.

"You see, when it comes to breaking any man to nothing, crushing his spirit, what have you- men tend to be more… animalistic. There's no mercy. That's why prison rape is such a problem. Some guys just have such an ingrained alpha-male streak and they feel the driving need to protect their masculinity to hide what they lack. Men like you. I've dealt with your kind before: you have to be on top, have to be in control, you have to be the dominant one."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Cyrus growled warily.

She shrugged casually. "You tell me. Other than beating the daylights out of him, you've left him pretty much alone. And between you and me- just beating him up is not going to break him because it's already been done. You want to crush his spirit you have to get creative… But you already knew that… No, no… You're not honorable… You're frustrated by that your own sexuality to the point that it has driven you to try and destroy your own emotions because when daddy found out- he was _very _disappointed."

Her crimson eyes absorbed every detail of his body language and peered right into his soul through his pale eyes wide. She smiled at him almost cheerfully. "Go and tell me I'm wrong if it makes you feel any better, but I already know the truth."

She waited patiently for him to make any move. He only tightened his lips into thin line. "Well, that's not a problem. None of that is. You can throw the thief around all you want- I couldn't care less… However, our mutual feelings are not shared with everyone in this fortress. In fact, our friend the conman has done quite well for himself turning your men against you."

Cyrus's face turned from his default sour expression to one of genuine bemusement. "How…?"

"Cyrus, he's got you pegged. He knows that you rule with nothing more than fear and pretty words. And he has turned that against you… Very skillfully, in fact. It's commendable, really. I don't know that I could do better," she explained simply.

"That doesn't explain-"

"Oh, for Arceus's sake, Cyrus, must I spell it out for you? He has shown not only you, but all of your little grunts that he's not afraid of you. He's stood up to you over and over again. You're turning yourself into a monster in their eyes and him into a martyr. And now they're getting the idea that they can stand up to you too. Not only that but he calls out to them, teases them about being 'puppets' and breaks their faith in your words. Haven't you noticed that your little buddy Saturn wants out? He's got the quite the following too..."

Cyrus searched the floor for answers with his eyes as the information sunk in. She walked behind his chair and laid her hands on his shoulders, squeezing gently and leaning forward to talk almost in his ear.

"You see, this is what you get for caring only for yourself and forgetting that you have a company to run… … And that is precisely why you _need _me," she purred. "Now… Since you've made such a mess, I am going to ask only once that you hand over full control of Team Galactic to me so I can clean all this up… If you refuse, I walk out that door and leave you to your fate."

Cyrus closed his eyes and sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "… Do whatever you need to," he answered, officially surrendering his organization to her now.

She smiled. "Good boy. Now, I'll organize the relocation to the new headquarters immediately, then you and I will see to Mr. Stone and Mr. Riley."

* * *

Blindfolded and pushed, Cynthia was disoriented on where she was in the building; only aware that she was on a lower floor than the one her cell had been on. The large soldiers shoved her along roughly, sometimes so hard she stumbled, and then the pushed her harder. Their destination was unknown to her, but whatever was going on, it seemed a rushed mission. While she had lost a sense of direction in the building along the way, she had picked up many new details in the happenings of this building; that Cyrus was no longer in charge and that Steven and Riley were released.

Her reflections on the recent happenings were disrupted but the sound of a heavy door opening. She was forced into the room roughly, her hands unbound from her back and then the door closed behind her. She cautiously removed the blindfold to take stock of her surroundings. The first thing she saw was Sam, bloodied and beaten obviously far worse than she had been, sitting with his back leaning against the wall, blood dried to the side of his face from a deep cut that ran the length of his cheekbone.

She gasped in shock, the sharp intake of breath startling him enough that he looked at her with mild surprise. "Oh… Cynthia, fancy seeing you here," he commented with a casual yawn.

Cynthia scrambled forward to him, skirting the large wooden desk that sat in the middle of the room. "Arceus… I didn't even know you were here! … Are you alright?" she asked, concern heavy in her voice.

Sam waved her off dismissively. "Ah, nothing a solid and _really_ long vacation can't fix... And maybe even a hospital for once." He eyed her. "You don't look too bad… That's good. What about Riley and Steven?"

Cynthia shrugged. "According to the gossip, Steven and Riley were gently escorted outside. It doesn't sound like they were too bad off."

"Better than you and I for sure," Sam joked with short-lived dry chuckle. "So… What else have you heard?"

"Someone else is in charge… A woman. She sounds like a very adept one. It's only been three hours and she's already sent away all the commanders and any grunts that were loyal to them. Everyone else here is being 'relocated'."

Sam sighed. "We barely managed to find them once. I don't think we can do it a second time... Guess Team Galactic got off pretty lucky compared to our other enemies... And I suppose she's not interested in anything we have to say… Well, good."

Cynthia furrowed her brows with confusion. "What makes you think that?"

"Of course, I'm no expert in interior decorating, but I'm pretty sure we're in the execution room. You know, the blood splatters, scratches, and the fact that we've been put in here together like fish in a barrel… But I could be wrong and he's just got a thing for the creepy butcher look," Sam replied sarcastically, but still at ease.

Slowly, Cynthia sat down beside him and hugged her knees to her chest thoughtfully. "Sam… I do not want to die in this place…" she admitted, looking away from him.

"Hey, now, don't get so depressed on me. I just said that they were going to kill us- that doesn't mean that they'll succeed."

"And what are we going to do?" Cynthia answered, irritated by his infinite calm. "We don't have any weapons, I don't have my pokemon, and you're not any good right now!"

"Ouch… That deeply hurts my feelings…" he remarked dramatically.

Cynthia paused and shrugged expressively. "Well! What else can we do? We have nothing!"

Sam turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised. "What makes you think that we're helpless?"

"What, do you have some magical weapon that will come out of nowhere?" she asked, heavily sarcastic.

"No."

"Then do you have a plan?"

He yawned again and actually closed his eyes like he was going to sleep, much to Cynthia's frustration. "Nope."

"Then what are we going to do?!"

"Whatever we have to… And it seems death is about to come knocking on our door," he observed, his eyes still closed.

Cynthia looked back at the door as it opened, revealing two fairly big men, one with very dark skin and the other extremely pale.

Sam opened his eyes to look at them and smiled cheerfully. "Gentlemen, it's only been an hour and you're back already? Did you miss me?"

The darker man snorted as he readied his gun, the other man did the same. "Noan gon' miss ya, smart ass."

Sam leaned over to Cynthia and whispered, "They really don't like me…"

"I can't imagine why," she gritted back between clenched teeth.

Sam ignored her completely. "So what are you gents here for?"

The white one answered him. "To kill you and your girlfriend… Cyrus sends his regards."

"Oh, well that was sweet of him, wasn't it? I have to say, I'm rather disappointed that it took him this long to decide he wanted to kill me… It typically doesn't take people that long," he mused casually.

"Huhhuh. I al'eady decided ta kill you," the dark one chuckled with an ugly laugh.

"Oh? How is that fair? How come he gets to kill me- you not good enough, whitey-tighty?" Sam asked, appearing genuinely offended by this. Cynthia gaped at his audacity, completely shocked.

"Shut up!" the darker man growled.

But the other man wanted his say. "Yeah, how come you get to? I want to put the kill shot right through his head!"

"Yo ain't doen nothin' if you doan do wot yo supp'sd ta!"

"Hey- now that's not a reason, don't take that bullshit, man, stand up for yourself," Sam added, highly involved in their argument.

"I've been here way longer than you- what gives you the right?"

"I'm da senior agent- yo jus' shoot da lady!" the black man ordered, pushing the other man back.

"Oh, whoa, whoa… _Pushing?_ Are you just going to let this guy push you around? Push him back!" Sam interjected.

"Hey, screw you, man," the man snarled, pushing the black man roughly.

"You're a senior field agent and you're letting him boss you around? That's ridiculous, hit him back," Sam added once again. As pushing fight turned to a fist fight, Sam turned to Cynthia. "Okay, now, I want you to take off my left boot," he said quietly before egging on the fight.

She stared at him. "What?"

"Cynthia, do you want live? Yes? Then just do as I say and get my boot."

"Why don't you get it yourself?" she asked, indignantly.

Sam gave her a sarcastic look. "Cynthia, if I could get it myself, I would have."

Irritated and confused, she crawled forward and reached for a boot. "Your other left, Cynthia," Sam told her flatly.

She blushed and started untying his boot quickly, muttering under her breath as she heard the all-out brawl behind her and Sam calling out directions to them like a coach. Once she had the boot, she crawled back to him.

"Now what? Are you going to knock them out with a boot?" she asked sarcastically.

"No. Slam the heel of it on the ground, hard as you can," he stated, dead serious. "But not the toe- that wouldn't help us at all."

Cynthia humored him angrily, ranting under her breath. "Oh but of course, the toe won't help… Let's just slam the heel of a boot down… that'll solve everything!" With all of her might, and her anger contributing, she slammed the heel, not the toe, down on the ground and heard the metallic _clink_. As she lifted the boot up, the back of the heel fell away and attached to that was a small but sharp blade. She picked it up and gaped at him.

"_Please_ tell me I'm useless again," Sam asked smugly.

Cynthia scowled. "You're… Insane."

"Insanely clever," he corrected. "Now, creep around that desk and strike whenever you see an opening," he instructed as the fight ended with the big black man victorious, the other man's head busted open over the table.

Picking himself up, the black man walked over in front of Sam and pointed the loaded and cocked pistol at him. "Alrigh' you sonnova bitch… Yo turn."

Sam smiled at him innocently. "Of course, but before that I'd just like to point out that this is the part where you ask where the little blonde chick went."

The man looked to where Cynthia was supposed to be and that was as far as he got as Cynthia slammed the blade right into his jugular. He fell with a heavy thud. Sam watched him emotionlessly.

"Well… That was fun, huh?" he remarked, still sitting and making no effort to get up.

Cynthia looked at him sarcastically. "More fun than I ever want to have again… … Are you just going to sit there or…?"

"Well, is there anything around I can use as a crutch?" he asked with a shrug.

Cynthia scanned the plain room carefully. "Uh… No. Why do you want a-" she cut off as she looked back and he was holding a hand out to her.

As she continued to stare at him incomprehensively, his expectant look sharpened. "Don't just stand there and look at me like I'm stupid. Help me up."

Cautiously, Cynthia grasped his wrist and braced herself as he genuinely relied on her to get up, obviously taking great pains to avoid bending his right knee if possible. Once he finally got to the point where he was standing, he let go of her and leaned on the table as he slid his boot back on carefully. As she stepped back to take the keys from the body of one of the men, she could see the long and deep gash over his shoulder and halfway down his back.

He caught her staring and straightened back up. Cynthia didn't ask and he didn't say anything about it. "Well, keep our eyes out for anything I can use as a cane or we are not going to make very good time," he joked limping closer to her.

"Right… I don't know my way around here, so it might take a while anyway. I don't even know where we are."

Sam gestured at the door. "That's okay because I know exactly where we are and how to get out of here."

Unlocking the heavy door, Cynthia listened cautiously for anyone who might be coming. "How are we going to get out here with so many grunts and soldiers running around?"

"They're being evacuated- they won't care if we're running around. If they notice us, they'll probably just run. And besides that, Steven and Riley have no doubt gone to get help so we won't be alone for long," Sam assured her calmly.

_I wish I could be that calm,_ Cynthia muttered to herself so softly, it wasn't even a whisper. Once unlocked, the door swung open at her push on it. The hallway was mostly deserted. Cynthia looked at Sam for direction.

"You first… I'll tell you where to go." With a nod and respect for the fact that he clearly didn't want her watching him limp along, she strode out into the hall with more confidence than she felt. She kept her pace slow, knowing that there was no way he could limp fast enough to keep up with a normal pace and even if he could it would be cruel to make him. Whether he was serious about wanting a crutch or not, she kept her eyes peeled for anything that he might be able to use. As they walked he called out directions to her.

She saw two grunts ahead and prepared to fight them but as soon as they noticed them, the pair fled. No alarm was raised, they simply fled. They were running anyway, so what difference did it make?

"I guess you were right, Sam," she observed loudly so he could hear her.

He laughed dryly. "You know, that actually happens a lot but people are always so surprised."

Cynthia bit her tongue. "That's… Not what I meant…"

"I know. Just keep walking," he replied, good-naturedly.

Cynthia took a few more steps forward and then paused to look back at him quickly, noticing immediately how taxing this was on him. She bit her lip as she turned around.

"Don't look so guilty. It's not your fault," Sam remarked, seeing her little peek.

"I should have been paying more attention… Riley and Steven shouldn't have been allowed to leave- that should have been stopped. And then… I really… Screwed up."

"Yeah, you were the kicker. If you hadn't shown up, chances are that Steven and Riley could talk themselves out of it… But then some higher power of the Guild comes after them? Your stunt might have gotten them killed if it weren't for me," Sam stated easily.

"You? What did you do to save them?" Cynthia asked skeptically.

"Well, for starters, I fashioned a story to cover up for your mistake perfectly. Two, I took the brunt of all the hatred and anger Cyrus and his cronies have for us because, no offense but, you guys are wimpy in terms of taking hits yourself. And three- if things had gone according to plan, we would have only been here for an hour."

She paused and turned around to look at him. "What was your plan?"

He met her gaze levelly with a shrug. "Does it matter? It didn't work since I forgot that Lucian wouldn't associate with Matt for anything. Though, just so we're clear, when we get back, I'll fully lecture you about how your stupid and rash decisions put not only your own life in jeopardy, but hundreds of others who would have had to save you. Now, stop wasting time and let's go," he finished gesturing at the staircase. "We're on the third floor. Your pokemon should be on the first floor and we'll stop and get them."

Cynthia nodded and opened the doors to the stairs, hesitantly starting her way down. The stairs spiraled around at a gradual slope, making it a longer walk than it could be- especially for Sam who obviously trying to not hurt himself.

Noticing his slow progress, she took several rapid steps forward, calling back to him, "I'm going to go on ahead and get my pokemon. Where are they?"

"Wait, what? You're just going to leave me here? After all we've been through?" Sam protested, sarcastically dramatic.

Cynthia rose her eyebrows emotionlessly. "I don't see a problem- at the rate you're going, I can get them and come back and you still won't be to the bottom of the stairs."

"Can't you see I'm limping here? Geez, woman… … I'm kidding. Fine- go right on ahead. On the first floor, the fourth door on the left."

Cynthia nodded and continued at a much faster pace. In moments she was gone and Sam was left alone. Using the railing has a heavy crutch, he muttered under his breath bitterly as he hopped down the stairs, hearing the doors open far below as Cynthia left the stairwell.

"Arceus damn these stairs… I don't even know which foot to limp on anymore…" Sam mused aloud, since he was, after all, alone. His right knee, despite the fact he was keeping almost all of his weight off, was slowly giving out from the brutal blow that Cyrus had dealt to the back of his knee with a mostly blunt object. Sam considered himself lucky that it hadn't cut the major artery that ran through his knee, even if it still hurt. Then again- so did the gash on his calf from three days ago since he managed to accidentally tear the stitches.

Once he had finally made it half way to the second floor, he heard a door open… Somewhere. The perfect white walls of the stairwell took any sound and echoed it a hundred times, disguising the true location.

Sam stopped immediately as he heard voices: one he didn't recognize, but he knew Cyrus's. Hard not to. The clack of high heels identified the other as a woman, but he could neither see nor pinpoint where they were so he stood still- it wasn't like there was anywhere for him to hide.

"Well, looks like the Guild is here. And Steven was just released so it turns out that I was right," Cyrus growled smugly. Sam listened carefully, his eyes widened as they put the Guild with Steven.

The woman answered with a stern voice. "I don't care who he is and if you make one more stupid decision like that again, I'll kill you myself and find someone else to help me. I do not need you near as much as you need me- you are simply extraordinarily convenient."

Silence fell as they both stopped walking to face each other. Cyrus laughed shortly. "You? Kill me? Lady, you're too weak to take me on."

Sam could only guess what happened as Cyrus's laughter was cut short with a pained whimper.

"Listen close and listen good; never, _ever_ assume that your opponent is weaker than you just because of their appearance. I admit, I am not quite the woman I used to be, but I am still the deadliest assassin to ever be born in the underworld and if I decide that you should die, then you will. Do you understand?" the woman's gravelly voice purred dangerously, from where Sam assumed was behind him since it was only logical that they would be coming from Cyrus's office on the fourth floor, right?

Cryus's answer was a tiny sound of submissiveness. Sam heard the tiny pat and the crunch of the dirt and grit on the floor as the woman turned sharply on her heel. "Good boy. Now, go with your men- I will arrive there shortly."

Sam turned to face the way he came, back up the stairs to the fourth floor cautiously expecting her to come into view. He heard the sharp clack of heels hitting the ground and then nothing- but she had to still be moving.

_She took off her heels?_ Sam listened closely for any noise that she would have made and taking a few cautious steps backwards, feeling very cornered. He heard a faint click that sounded like the clasp on a purse.

It wasn't until the distinct snap of the hammer on a pistol that he realized that she was not coming from the top floor, but from the ground floor... and she was right behind him.

Sam whirled around in time to see a flash of a white women's suit and long black ringlet curls as she was on the stair even with him and felt the barrel against his side, before the explosion of the bullet being fired sounded- echoing off the walls, shattering all conscious thoughts with the mind-numbing waves of sound.

"Can't leave that man to do anything… I have to do everything myself," he heard her comment as she walked past him like it was nothing- she didn't pay him any mind.

Sam looked down at the blood welling from the wound in shock and disbelief. Nothing was registering- it was like the shot had sapped all the strength he had left and his ability to even think. Instinctively, he tried to clamp a hand over the wound but the bullet had blazed right through him and he could feel the warm blood on his back as well. As red and black seeped into the corners of his vision and the floor seemed to be moving on its own, he staggered down the remainder of the stairs to the second floor landing- each step taking him one more stride towards the encompassing darkness that seemed to be waiting to strike.

Sam was only vaguely aware that he had even made it down the stairs, and only because he couldn't use the railing to hold himself up anymore. Leaning heavily against the wall, his battle for consciousness finally ended before he even realized that he'd collapsed.

* * *

**AN: **...

Big thanks to **RandomGuy520** for Aaron Kroatien!

And also big thanks to my super beta and friend, **DarkAngelTorchic**!

**Thanks for reading my super long chapter, for all the reviews last week, **

**and I hope you had or will have a happy Thanksgiving!**


	21. Chapter 21

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Darkness gave way to a faint red from light hitting his eyelids, assuring to his fragile conscious mind that he was indeed alive, if a little beat up, the extent of which was still unknown to him. Slowly, his senses started passing along information as he kept still, deciding that dealing with the bright light could wait. Every breath was restricted by the sharp pain of a few cracked ribs and he could feel the tight bandage that was wrapped around the lower end of his chest. Covering him rather snugly was a thick, wool blanket and there was some kind of pillow under his damaged knee. He could feel Cat's cold, wet nose against his neck and Michael's weight pushing down the mattress at his side. He could smell a vinegar-like smell of the alcohol they'd probably used to clean his wounds and the general odor of various different cleaning agents along with a slightly salty smell.

Curious enough now, Sam opened his eyes, squinting against the light. Dazedly, he looked around the room he was in from where he was and saw the clean white walls. Sliding his elbows back slowly, he pushed himself into a sitting position, careful not to wake his pokémon up. The room was as plain as any normal hospital room- except that it was obviously not a hospital.

Pushing his hair out of his face, Sam looked down at himself seeing a mess of bandages, stitches, and bruises- some of them he remembered, most of them he didn't. _Damn… What the hell happened? _

Looking over, he saw his bag and pair of sweatpants and a shirt lying on a small dresser not too far away. He considered reaching for them as he pet Michael's head distractedly when a young woman suddenly walked in, her reddish pink hair curled in ringlets around her freckled face.

Her eyes widened immediately and her face burst into a big smile. "Oh! You're awake! Mr. Stone will be so happy, I'll go tell him!" As quickly as she'd appeared she flounced off. It took Sam a moment to even process what she said. Carefully, he slid off the bed and grabbed his clothes and his bag.

* * *

Steven sat alone, ignoring the food the cook had given him, with his chin resting on his hand as he stared at the wall. There were dark circles under his eyes as he was worrying himself sick over Sam. They all were worried and everyone who knew him had been shocked. Even days later, no one could forget watching small drops of blood fall from the second landing.

Riley looked at Steven with open concern, knowing that everything had just been too much. He'd wanted Sam to return home, already worried about him, and then to find him half-dead and the news that Sam couldn't go home had just shut him down.

Cheryl sat down beside Riley and leaned on his arm. "How is he today?" she asked softly with a glance at Steven, laying her hand on the cast surrounding his broken arm.

"He's still pretty broken up- but hopefully he'll be okay soon. The doctor said that Sam will be alright at this point, he just needs time," Riley replied, resting his hope in the doctor's opinion. The man had saved Sam's life- Riley had no reason to doubt his judgment even if they had been forced to buy his silence and help.

"I'm worried about him though… He looks so sad…" Cheryl said expressively. "I think he looks at least a little happier when he's near Sam…"

Riley smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. "Cheryl, I'm sure he'll be fine. Besides, he's always worried about Sam no matter how far apart they are or even if there's actually something wrong."

"Mr. Stone! Mr. Stone!" the nurse called, jogging into the room cheerfully, her face red and she was panting from running. She wiped sweat from her brow, but her smile was as bright as ever. "Oh, goodness… You're so far away… He woke up!" she announced jovially.

Steven stared at her, shock open on his face. "But… I thought he wasn't going to for at least a day yet…?"

She shrugged. "It was just a guess, but it's not definitive! Now, c'mon- I'm sure he'll be happy to see you!"

Steven stood up quickly and followed her as she bounced away, Riley got up and followed elbowing Steven with a smile for the first time in days, and Steven managed a small smile back.

"Who said you could come? He won't be happy to see you," Steven teased lightly.

Riley laughed shortly and rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. "Yeah, probably not, but someone has to be the bad guy and I won't make you do that."

Steven sighed. "Yeah… Someone's going to have to break the news to him. And then you're going back to Sinnoh, right?"

"Yeah… I can't stick around, they need me back there too and as long as Sam is awake you won't be alone so I won't feel obligated to be second best," Riley joked, trying to keep the light-hearted mood.

They reached the room Sam had been left in and the nurse knocked only briefly before just opening the door, the doctor that Riley had hired stood by, unaware what was going on. The cheerful nurse and Steven were both confused when Sam was not still in bed, which they had assumed and what he should have been doing.

Like it was completely natural, he walked (well, limped) out of the bathroom and tossed back the towel he was using to dry off his face. He noticed them staring at him slightly slack-jawed and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Ooh! You shouldn't be moving around yet! You could hurt yourself!" the nurse exclaimed.

Sam rolled his eyes and limped back to sit on the bed. Steven said nothing as he saw the look Sam gave him. Pushing his dark brown hair back out of his face, he eyed Steven and Riley as if considering something.

"How should I put this… … Oh, of course. … What the hell were you two thinking?!" he snapped at them suddenly. Riley flinched. "I turn my back for two seconds and the three musketeers are capering off to Mt. Coronet!"

Steven nodded slowly, having lectured himself on the same thing. Riley decided to try to answer the question bravely, "We were just trying to help you out a little bit."

"Help? Help. Really? Do you feel like you helped me out?" Sam asked heavily sarcastic. Riley shrugged apologetically. He rubbed his brow with obvious frustration and sighed. "Okay… Riley you are the head of the Guild- I don't care what your excuse or reasoning was behind it but you _can't _go around doing things like that or you'll end up dead and the Guild will be screwed. And Steven, you really should have known better."

Steven walked over and sat down beside him. "Yeah… I've been beating myself up over it ever since… Cynthia told me what you did- how you purposefully drew more attention to yourself to save us some extra beatings."

Sam waved him off. "Ah, it's nothing. Cyrus already had it out for me anyway. His goal was to kill me from the start." He paused for a moment and looked at Steven curiously. "So you've been beating yourself up over your mistake, huh?"

Steven rolled his eyes. "Yes… Why?"

"Well, that explains why you look like hell," Sam commented with a small smirk.

Steven snorted. "_I _look like hell? Have you looked in the mirror?"

Scowling Sam rubbed the right side of his face ruefully. "Yes, that reminds me- What the hell happened to my face? I don't remember ever having a black eye or a getting a cut on my eyebrow."

The doctor stepped forward now and leaned against the dresser. "I'm assuming that you got that when you collapsed. You split your eyebrow open and got that black eye afterwards… You also bruised your right hip down to the bone."

Sam squinted at the man in the khakis and tan collar shirt for a few moments before looking to Steven. "Who is this guy?"

"I'm Doctor Waldfogel. I was hired by these gentleman to save your life," the doctor answered. "Also- I'm guessing from how animated you are right now that you're still feeling the effects of the anesthetic. I would suggest that you settle down a lot because when it wears off, you _will _feel all of your injuries and it was my understanding that you have a highly allergic reaction to most analgesic drugs, so there's not going to be a lot I can do when that happens."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Look, Doctor… Whoever you are, I won't be feeling much worse than I did before you and nurse joyful over there, so don't worry about it."

The doctor shrugged. "Of course… But as your doctor I am inclined to warn you now that you have sustained not only heavy damage in cuts, but internal bruising, internal bleeding, your lung was scraped by one of your broken ribs, and given the overall torn-up condition you're in; I advise that you avoid too much activity… That includes walking around too much. I would also advise avoiding being shot again," he finished with a light-hearted grin.

Sam didn't miss a beat. "Oh, well I'm be sure to tell the next guy I get in a fight with not to shoot me because my doctor said it was unhealthy."

Riley sighed and shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Doctor Waldfogel… He's-"

"It's alright. I'm pretty sure he'll be fine now so I'll leave him to you two… Let me know if he rips out his stitches or starts coughing up blood," the doctor replied easily.

Sam sneered at his back as the doctor left taking his assistant with him, cursing him under his breath in foul humor. Steven shook his head and chuckled a little bit at his antics.

Sam ignored Steven's amusement and regarded Riley suspiciously. "I take it you've got something to say… And it probably has something to do with why we're on a ship."

Riley's eyes widened with surprise. "How did you know?"

"I'm from Hoenn- I've been on a lot of different ships. I know this one- this is _The Dragon Nexus_, the smallest but fastest ship on the Guild's naval force and capable of sailing thousands of miles on one tank of fuel. Retired to Sinnoh's usage when it fell from Drake's favor," Sam observed, searching Riley's face for the answer.

Riley sighed and ran a hand through his blue hair. "Okay… We _were_ going to send you home… But on the day you were supposed to return, the harbor in Slateport was blown up as well as part of your home… Well, mansion. They suspected you were coming and wanted to kill you. Chances are, they're still waiting. Sinnoh is held strong, but if Cyrus caught word that you were at a hospital, there was no telling what he'd do… And we're getting a lot of strange activity going on in Kanto and Johto."

Steven played with the silver band on his finger quietly. Sam caught on to what they didn't want to say. "So… You're sending me to Unova," he finished.

Riley shrugged helplessly. "Yes… I don't see any other options… You'll be safe there from Cyrus and whatever else is going on… But you're going to have to be a good law-abiding citizen or you'll be spending a long time in prison there."

Sam nodded slowly. "What about Galactic?"

"Nothing we can do… The reins of the Team have been left to Saturn and he's changing the public opinion of Team Galactic… If we try and go after him, we risk bringing attention to ourselves."

"Well… I guess I've never been to Unova before- that'll be fun, right?"

"Unova is a tough police state, Sam. One slip up, and they won't hesitate to arrest you and we won't be able to help you," Steven added.

"I've heard the stories. I'll manage, one way or the other. How long am I going to have to stay there?"

"Five months… A year? I don't know. We'll have to play things by ear. I trust you'll find a way to contact us?"

Sam nodded. "I'm sure I can figure out something. How long before we get there?"

"We're five days from the port of Castelia. We'll sneak you off, but from there you're on your own," Riley told him with a business-like tone.

Sam nodded calmly, accepting the decision. Riley had expected a lot more grief over the deal and wasn't sure what to do now.

Sam caught the look Riley was still giving him and gave him a strange look back. "Do you have something else to say, Riles?"

"I… No. I don't. I guess I'll just…"

"Go back to the Guild, where you should have stayed all along?" Sam finished for him.

"Yeah… … Uh, good luck, Sam. I'll see you later," Riley said as he left.

Sam and Steven were left, neither looking at the other. Steven finally broke the silence that had fallen between them. "Are you alright?"

Sam shrugged noncommittally. "I've certainly been better… But I've been worse too, so I won't complain."

"… I noticed when Cyrus suddenly seemed unsure about what to do with us and he left us alone. I knew something was up, but I had hoped that he was just starting to believe the story Riley and me were giving him. And then suddenly we were escorted to his office by a polite vanguard, but it wasn't Cyrus who was there... It was some lady. We had an... Oddly civil conversation and then she had us escorted out gently. We called in, I found your phone and Matt told me that you and Cynthia were still in there."

Sam smiled and chuckled. "I can only image what his version of the events were. You should have heard what he told me."

Steven smiled. "He was a little hard to understand… Anyway, as soon as we got some of our men inside, they found Cynthia. When she realized that you weren't with them… I've never seen her look so pale and upset."

Sam stared across the room at the wall, flinching at the mention of Cynthia. Steven looked at the ceiling and shook his head slightly, his lips tightening into a thin line. "It was a close call," he finally said.

"I know…" Sam started, and paused, seeming to consider continuing before lapsing back into silence.

Steven glanced at him quietly. "It's getting really dangerous for the Guild right now, are you sure you want to stay involved in all this?"

Sam sighed heavily and shook his head. "Steven, I knew the risks when I signed up... Even if you didn't."

* * *

Riley returned to his office in Sinnoh, relaxing in his cozy, over-stuffed office chair happily. It was a huge relief to him now that Sam was awake. The last four days had been intense and had worn harshly on him and Steven especially. He had been accosted by Matt as soon as he'd gotten back and Matt was so overjoyed to hear that Sam was okay, he actually cried. Unsure what to do, Riley had left Matt with Cheryl to go to his office.

He didn't get to revel in the calming silence long when there was a timid rap at his door. Cynthia then proceeded to let herself in quietly.

"Cynthia… Is something wrong?" Riley asked automatically, seeing her face. He'd already heard that she lost to Lucas, but it hadn't surprised him all things considering. Everyone was thrown off by the recent events.

"I take it Sam has woken up?" she asked hopefully. Riley nodded. Cynthia sighed in relief and dropped into the chair in front of his desk. "Good… That's good. I'm glad."

Riley stared at her, completely confused. "I… didn't know you cared…"

Cynthia looked up at him, surprised for a moment before closing her eyes tightly and pulling at her eyebrows. "I just… This whole thing was my fault… He could have died taking the fall for me I… I don't even know what I'd do," she admitted.

"Oh… …" Riley said awkwardly. _So you feel guilty and that's all?_

Slowly, she stood back up and started to leave. Before she walked out the door, she stopped and turned back to him. "Are you sure about sending him to Unova? Isn't there anything else you can do?"

Riley shook his head. "No… There's not. Unova is our best bet…"

"I hope you're right about this," she said, before closing the door behind her.

Riley sighed rest his chin on his arms as he folded them on his desk, suddenly very tired. "I hope so too…"

* * *

It was night, almost midnight in fact. The moon had risen over the dark, cold seas as the boat sailed ever closer to the shores of Unova. Steven had woken up, haunted by an old dream that hadn't visited his mind in a long time. Since he was awake, he decided to the walk the short distance to Sam's room- just to check on him. Even though it was dark, the dim light of the hallway shown into the room enough to reveal that Sam was not there.

Steven sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "I should have known," he grumbled. As he started to close the door, Michael leapt through and looked up at him. Steven raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to help me find him?"

Michael nodded curtly and wagged his tail, indicating that he wanted to get moving. Steven gestured down the hall. "Well, go on then. I'll follow… I guess… …" Michael bounded forward, looking back occasionally to make sure Steven was still in sight. Before long, Michael shot around a corner and when Steven turned the same way, he saw Sam kneeling to pet Michael, talking to the loyal pokémon as he often did. He looked up and saw Steven and flinched a little.

"I saw that," Steven observed disapprovingly as he walked towards him.

Sam sighed and sat down, resting his back against the wall. Once Steven reached him, he did the same. Michael lay down between them, very close to Sam. It was fairly clear that Michael had experienced some separation anxiety and was now practically glued to Sam's side. Sam pet his pokemon's head affectionately as he looked up at Steven. "You caught me. So… What lecture are you going to give me?" he asked, coughing just a little bit as he chuckled.

Steven rolled his eyes. "I don't know… I don't what to tell you so you'll understand."

Sam coughed, drawing Steven's scrutinizing gaze. He saw the sheen of sweat on him, small shivers that caused his hands to shake like he was cold, and that harsh cough and the sound of every breath rattling in his damaged lungs indicated his real condition. They were sitting three-fourths of the way down the ship from Sam's room. Not a far walk, but for someone in his condition, it was a little too far.

"Why do you insist on doing this to yourself?" Steven asked, irritation stemming from the worry that distressed him constantly.

Sam paused before answering. "Steven…"

"The doctor said to not do things like this- to just rest. Why can't you just do that?"

"Because if you're going to just drop me off in Unova, I need be capable of at least walking several yards by myself without collapsing…" Sam answered calmly.

Steven shook his head, trying to find some way to argue with that logic, logic that made more sense than he liked. Finally he looked up at the ceiling helplessly. "You know… My father never wanted me to be a trainer."

Sam looked up at him sharply, very confused by the sudden change of topic, but he didn't interrupt.

"He wanted me to take over the company, but I didn't want that. He was always trying to set things out for me... He probably had my entire life mapped out. I was a little spoiled, you could say, and _very _rebellious. We fought all the time. Just to spite him, I did the opposite of what he wanted; I chose to be a trainer. My mother begged and pleaded with me. She wanted to lock me in the house… But my father said, 'it's his life, let him ruin it.'"

Steven paused and shrugged helplessly. "That's exactly what I did."

"Even though my father wasn't going to lock me up, he stonewalled me from succeeding; placing strong trainers all over our neighborhood and shutting down my accounts to force me to come back to him. I couldn't beat these trainers and my pokémon didn't trust me… They never really did, but still I refused to give up," Steven recounted thoughtfully.

His face suddenly broke into a small smile. "And then one day, I went to visit a friend in Dewford and figured I'd train in Granite Cave since I had time. And I find this… Little kid, _maybe_ five… Just hellbent on helping this little tiny aron."

Sam's eyes widened as he suddenly realized who Steven was talking about. His face turned a little red at the memory.

Steven saw and smiled wider as he continued. "This aron was obviously a runt- completely under-developed and beat up- I would have pegged it for dead. I thought that maybe it was the kid's pokémon so I figured maybe I could help him out."

He shook his head slightly and raised his eyebrows. "I was wrong… He just wanted to help this aron and wasn't really sure how. I tried to tell him that there probably wasn't anything to be done for the thing… He didn't care."

"So I offered to help him get it to the Pokémon Center. I wanted to use a poke ball, the _logical_ choice, but this aron was wild and panicked at the sight of it… That immediately freaked out the kid because the aron was so frightened so I put the ball away."

"Just as I was going to walk away, I found myself suckered into _carrying _this bloody aron out of the cave myself… …Thankfully, it only weighed half of what a normal one would or I wouldn't have made it," Steven carried on with an accusing glance at him.

Sam chuckled. "I am SO sorry… … Thank you, Steven," he added, pretending to be sympathetic.

Steven smacked him lightly on the arm and continued. "Once it was taken care of, the tiny thing seemed to have imprinted pretty heavily on this kid… And me… Which was weird to me and I realized that my own pokémon didn't look at me with the same trust and affection that this tiny thing did. Between the two of us, we named the small thing Gabriel…"

"I walked away from Dewford that day with a real understanding about pokémon, finally. After that, I worked strongly with my pokémon until I saw that same loyalty in them as I had in Gabriel… I even went back to catch an aron for myself later. And I also started winning more. I got by first badge from Rustboro and kept going. Never returning home… "

"And thus the birth of ever famous Champion Steven Stone," Sam joked. "You know, you never did give me any credit for leading you to the path of a good trainer... Just left me in the dust."

Steven shrugged. "I tried to… But you were hard to find again."

Sam's joking air faded to just being confused, which is what he had been the whole time.

Steven continued on with his story. "As soon as I left, I started to wonder what ever happened to that boy and Gabriel… So I started doing some investigating. It took me two years, but I finally found out that his name was Sam and he was an orphan who was living with Mr. Briney…"

"I returned to the area a member of the Elite Four… But I couldn't find him. I was going to leave when I caught the news about some kid who had beaten Norman, who was substituting for Larson at the time. As soon as I saw him, I knew it was the same kid… Though I had trouble recognizing Gabriel, who was now huge- bigger than my own aggron."

"Okay, seriously, Steven- where are you going with this?" Sam asked, laughing at him.

"You remember that, don't you?" Steven asked him seriously.

"Yeah… Yeah, that old goofball who helped me once way back when came back famous as all hell… And despite all my efforts to get rid of him, I ended up having to spend the whole day with him… And after that he came back almost every day for no particular reason," Sam recounted, teasing Steven's way of telling the story. "And... Lectured me on selling badges to other trainers which I still don't see a problem with."

Steven shook his head. "It wasn't random. I had a reason."

Sam looked at him, unmoved. "By all means, don't leave me in suspense."

"I'd seen other people who had backgrounds like… yours. No faith in society, no laws, right and wrong depend on the situation, no one to care about but yourself… Grow up to be base men with no morality… Scum of society. And you were already looking to turn out like that."

"The kid I knew… The kid I met in Granite Cave was a good kid willing to trust a complete stranger to help him. You were not just a criminal who stole from just anybody- you took from people who could stand to lose some money and it wasn't about the theft, it was about simple survival for you… But I knew that it was only a matter of time before that changed… So, like my dad tried to do for me once, I tried to do what I thought was best."

"I didn't want you to become just another criminal… I wanted a lot better for you."

Sam pursed his lips together and looked at his feet, avoiding looking at Steven now. Michael seemed concerned, but he couldn't follow their conversation fully and had no idea what was going on.

Steven continued. "So... I tried the only thing I knew- I passed on the laws of the Guild to you… I just wanted to give you something to stand by- a code to believe in when it was clear to me that you didn't have a lot of faith in anything else. The Guild's code and the loose morals you had yourself were very similar and you picked it up fast…"

Steven sighed, pushing his platinum hair back and rubbing his jaw for a moment as he chose his next words carefully. "I know how much the Guild means to you. I get it. But you need to understand that you do not owe the Guild anything and if you did, you have paid your debt twice over now…"

"Alright… Alright- I see your point," Sam interrupted quickly.

"Do you? Really? Because I don't know that you do. You have been miserable ever since Team Rocket… I know you like to think that you can fool me, but you can't. You are constantly giving up things for the Guild… Arceus, Sam, you lost your Scyther for them, Michael and Cat could have been killed... What's next?"

"Yeah, yeah… I get it, enough of that already… Arceus, I will stop being so nice and selfless because it's such a terrible thing," Sam grumbled crossly.

"Wait… I want you to promise me something."

"What now?" Sam said with an expressive eye roll.

"When you come back, you will come back to Hoenn, you leave dealing with Team whoever pops up next to somebody else… You're a thief, not an assassin. Go back to stealing things- that's what you actually like doing. You're tired of the whole death business and so am I," Steven added sternly.

"Fine… Though I think I'll have to find a new place to store all of the things I've stolen… I'm out of room..." Sam commented thoughtfully and changing the subject.

Steven shook his head. "That does not surprise me. You've uncovered billions in ancient gold."

"Hey, _trillions_. I'm definitely in the trillions now… But it's been a while since I tried to count it."

"Well, while you try to figure that out, I don't think there's going to be any more dangerous adventures for me either… I'm going to give up my seat as General in Hoenn for something a little tamer yet…" Steven said thoughtfully.

"Could you possibly be any lazier?" Sam remarked sarcastically.

"I'm sure I can… Now will you please go back to your room and stay there?"

Sam sighed heavily and glared at him. "Fine… … If it will stop you from getting so emotional on me."

Steven smiled pleasantly. "Yes, it will."

Sam grumbled under his breath as Steven helped him up. As soon as he was standing, Steven smacked him on the back of the head.

"What the hell was that for?!" Sam asked, shocked.

"For making me worry," Steven answered with a wide smile. Sam scowled and rubbed the back of his head.

* * *

Like a lamb blindly following a shepherd, Cyrus trailed behind the Madame with Aaron following quietly behind him. She was wearing a black silk dress with no sleeves and long black gloves and she had instructed him to dress nicely as well, so he did; choosing black slacks and a gray shirt with a black vest. She had flattened his spiked hair so it was slicked back. Beside her, like usual, was that little boy she'd named Vidar, also dressed formally.

Down a long flight of stairs, he finally started to see the light of a room. Stepping down to that floor he looked at the faces surrounding a long table. The faces of people who were his new 'friends' according to her. She had dismissed Mars, Jupiter, and Charon from his side and left the remnants of Team Galactic's grunts in Saturn's hands to make them look good to the public so the Guild would have a harder time coming after them. Cyrus had insisted that Aaron stay with him though, there was no one he trusted more.

As he took in their faces, all very different from each other and from what he had expected, he did feel a sense that things were going to start going a different direction for him- one towards glory… Not failure at the hands of the Guild.

She stepped forward introducing each one, starting with laid-back woman with china-white skin. Her moss-green eyes stared at him intensely under her bushy eyebrows and the bangs of her luxurious, wavy, brown hair.

"This young woman is Mona 'Dollie' Klein. She's a rogue fighter, much like yourself, with a bitter hatred towards all pokémon… I'm sure you'll get along stupendously," she purred, moving to the tall, poised man with deeply tanned skin beside her. "This is Jonah Frye, he a miner with a very extensive network of mines that are rich in materials for our cause."

Cyrus nodded in acknowledgement, committing the name to the man's face- noting his midnight black eyes and hair.

Next to him was an attractive man with a notably feminine build, with olive green eyes that sparkled with the innocence of a playful growlithe puppy. He introduced himself politely. "I am Eddie Hodge- a merchant in these and other lands. I've got an extensive network at my disposal; Arceus praise my good fortune… But I do enjoy the extra retirement fund coming in for that private island, if you know what I mean," Eddie explained, his jovial personality shining through his brilliant smile as he played with locks of his bone white hair.

"Ah yes, Eddie… I should have expected you to be so bold," she teased, pinching his cheek as she walked past him. "And this is Wilson Patel- I'll let you handle your introduction, love."

The man nodded, an air of confidence surrounding his willowy frame. "Captain Patel… _Captain_," Wilson emphasized, flicking the gaze of his blood-colored eyes her way. She simply smiled at him and proceeded to play with his braided, chestnut hair as he continued. "I have a large fleet o' ships atcher service, sirrah. Proud to service ya and dis old hag," he commented with a smirk.

Cyrus got the sense that she had known him and others for some time now as she smirked.

"Darling, you flatter me," she laughed.

"Hardly, ye old floosie… Women don't ever get old. Not like us men- must be all the lotion..."

"Oh, goodness, now is not the time for your banter. Cyrus is terribly impatient sometimes," she hummed, grinning at him. It was clear that she was in her element right now as Cyrus stood simply trying to keep the names straight and figure out why they were necessary.

"Moving right along, this man," she stopped to put her hands on the shoulders of a clearly shy man with rose eyes and short hair the color of blue tropical waters, "is our very own Jay Harvey. He was a Gym Leader once and power in the Guild until they dismissed him for losing too many times. Now he's here for a beautiful thing we all know: revenge." Jay's blush deepened, his hands pressed together expressively in discomfort.

"Cherry Stanley and Spencer Brennan, I trust you two to explain yourselves accurately…" she said pointedly to the pair.

The woman with nut-brown skin, obviously Cherry Stanley, stood and saluted him. She looked like a menacing shark- tough and imperious in her militarist, navy-blue outfit. Her wide purple eyes were intense with pride as she introduced herself. "I am Cherry Stanley, a cop from Johto, sir," she stated sharply before sitting down, pursing her full lips together.

"Well… I guess it's my turn then," Spencer chuckled, taking a drag of his long cigarette. He stood and flourished his wide-brim, feather hat dramatically. "I am Spencer Brennan… Quite perfectly in the flesh if I do say so myself." He sat back down laughing as he played with the deep collar of the leather v-neck he was wearing; his silver eyes had a mischievous glint to them.

Cyrus stared at him. "And you're helpful to us how?"

"I am… An entrepreneur in the industry of pleasure," he phrased slowly, his voice scratchy from his cigarette. "My girls are very high-end and they get hold of a lot of information about the general workings of the world through their own 'special' methods."

The Madame interrupted smoothly, seeing the look on Cyrus's face. "Mr. Brennan has been my biggest source of information for a long time- he may not seem like much but he is very important."

Cyrus nodded in slowly in acceptance. He looked to the young man beside Spencer with pink hair and perfect blue eyes. His face was hardened into a scowl not unlike the one on his own face. Madame laid a gloved hand on his shoulder, "And this lovely dear is Adyran, I believe?" It was the first time she seemed even remotely unsure.

He nodded, shifting away from her hand. She continued pleasantly. "He's the best hacker around... We'll need him for what's to come... He isn't cheap either, so make sure that you have him doing something worthwhile in the meantime."

Cyrus eyed Adyran for a few seconds more before shifting his gaze to perhaps the most normal looking person in the room and the last to be introduced: A small girl with slitted brown eyes, light brown hair that fell over her shoulders in straight locks, and cream-colored skin.

"And who are you?" he asked her pointedly.

Her eyes raised to look at him, a cruel light in them that he used to see in himself. "Elva Ramsey…"

"Elva's parents were murdered by a member of the Guild. We've determined his name was Conrad… She wants revenge. And with our help, my dear girl, you'll get it."

Straightening up and leaving Elva, she addressed the whole group. "Of course, ladies and gentlemen, this is Cyrus and his right hand man, Aaron Kroatien. Some of you have worked for me in the past, some of you are new; either way, understand that you are to report to him. I expect you to help him understand how your services work and what you can accomplish. Our goal is to assimilate the whole underworld under our grasp… And I know that with your help, it can be done."

Spencer chuckled, grinning around the cigarette. "Madame, without _you_ it can't be done anyway."

"I will be present… Just not so involved. Cyrus will overtake the militaristic reign of things… Almost like a prince in our new kingdom…"

"And you'll still be the fair queen?" Eddie interpreted.

She smiled as she took a seat at the end of the table opposite of Cyrus, settling Vidar in her lap. "No, love, I'll be the king."

* * *

**AN:** Don't worry too much about remembering who these guys all are, they'll be reintroduced when they return as a refresher. I love Spencer though... He's awesome. And just the Epilogue left and this puppy is done!

Anywho, **Adyran** is an OC that belongs to **Cloud of Swirling Storm**! Thank you very much for submitting him, CoSS!

**Aaron Kroatien** belongs to **RandomGuy520**! Thank you also, very much.  
Both of these OC's will be used infrequently through Unova and one of the secret installments.

And thanks bunches to my wonderful beta and friend, **DarkAngelTorchic!**

Info for **GSTA: Unova**! I will tell you right now that Unova is VERY different from all previous installments. And... Well, you're going to learn so much! It'll be so much fun, you have no idea.

**Thanks for reading and for the reviews last week!**

_(You guys are funnier than I am, I swear)_


	22. Epilogue

No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Tall skyscrapers lit up the night sky like a thousand candles from a distance. Streetlights buzzed and waves of the sea crashed into the hidden shore, spraying everything with water and leaving a salty scent that mingled with the café and restaurants strewn through the streets. Three women walked side-by-side, carrying shopping bags from their night on the town.

"Look, Sarah! Look it's snowing!" one sang jovially as the small white flakes fell into her chestnut hair, dyed from its normal blonde color. Her petite frame was almost completely hidden under a heavy winter trench coat.

"Goodness, Jane, I'd think you'd never seen snow a day in your life," the larger of the women snorted, brushing some of the snow from the shoulders of her plain green jacket and checking to insure her curls of dark brown hair were still intact and not frizzing out from the moisture.

Sarah giggled and nudged her elder friend. "Oh, stop it Monica. Jane's just having fun… And isn't that what today is all about?" The snow and sea reflected perfectly in her blue eyes and her thick, wavy brown hair was pulled into a bushy ponytail. Her face was far more youthful then her two companions- understandable since she was the youngest.

Sarah looked up at the slightly overcast sky. "It's a beautiful night… And it's been so long since we've done anything fun…"

Monica huffed. "We had children to raise… Being proper mothers to them is important."

"Hard to believe my little girl is already twelve… Goodness, they grow up so fast," Jane said, wistfully gazing at the locket with the picture of the ever-cheerful blonde girl.

"Bianca is turning into a fine young woman," Monica remarked. "If a little too much like her mother."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yes, and your boy Cheren is far too much like _his _mother… So stuffy and uptight. Arceus, Monica, you used to be much more fun."

Monica huffed indignantly. "I never-"

"And what about _your_ kids? It must be hard… You know, raising two kids all by yourself," Jane asked, concerned.

Sarah blushed. "Oh… It wasn't that hard… Hilda's strong-willed like me… Heavens, she's fourteen now. And Hilbert- such a sweet boy… He… He reminds me of his father."

"Ooh… Who was his father again? Was that Jacob? Or Mike? … Or was it Brian?" Monica asked curiously. "Arceus, I can't keep your boyfriends straight."

Jane giggled and Sarah hit her in good humor but pretending to be offended. "You guys… His name was Charles and I did not have that many."

Jane's giggling bubbled forth again. "Yes you did, Sarah. You were beautiful! You still are," she told her jovially.

Sarah blushed and played with a lock of hair that hung over her ear. "I was…" she suddenly stopped and almost dropped her bags.

"And so modest," Monica jested dryly.

Jane suddenly saw what had made Sarah drop her bags. "Oh no…"

"Looks like we've got trouble," Sarah muttered reaching for her purse as a gang of young hooligans strode from the darkness of the street ahead. Monica sucked in a sharp breath and Jane hid behind Sarah, terrified. Sarah watched them carefully, but their eyes were not on her, but rather they seemed centered on a man standing by the pier.

"It's okay, girls, they aren't coming for us…" Sarah assured them.

"No, they're going for that guy," Monica said sadly.

"We should help him… Look, he's limping. He might be hurt," Jane pointed out, her eyesight better than Sarah's and Monica's by a long shot.

"Oh dear… She's right… Let's get the police," Monica urged.

Sarah watched more carefully, knowing that they were calling him out, banishing a few crude weapons as they circled him. She tightened her jaw and reached into her purse, her hand clasping around a poke ball as it became clear that he was not giving in to their demands and it was going to get very nasty very soon.

"No, we have to help him now," Sarah asserted, releasing her herdier.

Jane gasped sharply and panicked at the violence that was ensuing and what was obviously about to happen. Monica wrapped the smaller woman with her hefty frame in a protective hug.

"Kamau, get those thugs away from him! Go!"

Kamau, the herdier, barked obediently and rushed forward, knocking the thugs over like pins in a bowling alley- only the bowling ball had some pretty sharp teeth. Knowing better than to actually bite, Kamau nipped at their clothes and snarled ferociously, forcing the boys back as Sarah ran up.

"If you leave now, I won't call the cops on you fools… Get out of here," Sarah warned gruffly, sounding and appearing tougher than she really was.

The gang backed away, some running back into the shadows, a few walking slowly. One of the lanky boys was rubbing his bruised arm with an accusing glare at the man behind her.

"You gonna regret intahferring, lady… And you gonna pay for dis, you sonnova bitch," the thug growled.

"I regret nothing," Sarah snapped at him. He sneered and looked like was going to take a step forward. Then she heard the rustling of clothing behind her as the man she had saved moved. Sarah had no way of knowing what he did, but it must have been intimidating since the hoodlum in front of her suddenly looked very nervous and he beat a hasty retreat muttering threats.

"Yeah, go ahead and run!" Jane whooped, shaking her fist from behind Monica's back timidly.

"Hush, you," Monica hissed.

Sarah finally turned around to see just whom it was she had saved, getting a good look at him for the first time. _Oh my gosh, he's so young... _

"Are you okay?" she asked him cautiously, seeing the black eye and the gashes on his face, the only mar on his otherwise perfect tanned skin. Vaguely noting that he also did not look well- maybe even sick.

He shifted his gaze from her herdier to her. "Yeah… Thanks for the help."

Jane skipped forward, immediately blushing. "Ooh! Oh no! You looked like you were limping before! Are you all right? They didn't hurt you did they?" she asked, touching his face lightly as her former nurse training kicked in and she instinctively had to examine him.

Sarah expected him to shy away like a lot of people did when Jane did that, but he didn't move. In fact, he was seemed amused by it. "You're rather forward," he commented.

Jane froze and looked at him, alarmed. Her hands snapped back up and her green eyes widened. "Oh no… I'm so sorry! I was a nurse before… And well… Am I making you uncomfortable?"

He shook his head with a rather charming smile. "No, no. You're fine. I was just teasing."

Monica's dark eyes suddenly widened and she snapped her hand around Jane's wrist.

"Oh! Monica, what are you doing?" Jane asked, completely surprised.

"Yes, Monica, what _are_ you doing?" Sarah asked.

In answer, Monica flattened out Jane's hand, revealing the blood on her fingertips. All three women looked at the red and back at him, seeing the dark stain barely hidden under his jacket.

"You're bleeding!" Monica exclaimed worriedly, her mother's instinct coming over her. "Where are your parents? The Pokemon Center here is closed for renovations- is there anyone here you know?"

"Uh… No. I don't," he answered slowly and cautiously, Sarah realizing more and more how terrible he looked and that he was shivering.

Jane couldn't help but pipe up. "Do you have amnesia?" she asked.

He shrugged helplessly. "Must be."

"Oh that's terrible!" Jane exclaimed. Monica and Sarah exchanged less than amused glances. They were going to interrupt when he suddenly started coughing- it was a very harsh sound and it didn't take long before he was almost doubled over.

Jane fretted over him hovering anxiously. "Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?!"

Monica pulled Sarah aside. "That doesn't sound good… Whoever he is, he needs help."

"Yeah… Let's get him back to Nuvema at… My house… He can stay with me for as long as he needs," she said, not really thinking too much about it.

"Are you sure?" Monica asked her seriously. "There's room at my place too."

Sarah smiled just a little bit. "No, Monica… It's okay, really. There's more room at my house. I may not have nurse training like you two, but I _am _a mom. That counts for something."

"Alright, as long as you're sure."

"I am," Sarah stated confidently. She walked back to him and recalled Kamau and released her solosis and stood in front of him, getting his attention. "I'm going to take you back home with me… We can take care of you. You'll be okay."

Jane ran back and grabbed all of their bags and then they all stood close to each other to make it easier to the solosis to teleport them. They orbed into the kitchen of Sarah's house and the solosis plopped onto the ground, utterly exhausted. Monica guided their guest to a chair while Sarah tended to her solosis briefly.

"Hey… Solomon? Sweetie, you did good," she assured the green orb gently before recalling it to it's poke ball. Jane ran out of the house to grab her old nurse bag.

Monica, once the head nurse of the Pokemon Center at the League, took command of the situation perfectly.

"What happened to you? Where are you hurt?" she asked sternly.

He grimaced slightly. "Well, the 'how' of things is a long story, but I'm guessing I tore my stitches a little bit- no big deal."

Monica turned to Sarah. "Go ahead and put away our bags and tell Dan that I'll be late tonight and tell Cheren to finish his homework and go to bed if he hasn't already."

Sarah nodded, knowing that she was useless at the moment. She grabbed the shopping bags that belonged to her two friends and walked out the door as Jane ran back in with her bag.

She heard Monica and Jane exchange a few words and questions regarding supplies and then Monica asking him to see the wound. Sarah leaned against the door of her own house outside in the falling snow.

"This _has _to be the strangest day of my life…" she murmured, remembering his face and the slight accent he had when he talked. It was distinct but riddled with various different accents probably from extensive travel. She also had the feeling that he was older than he looked. Shrugging it off, she delivered the bags to their respective houses, taking the time to chat with the families there, knowing everyone so well in this town. When she returned, she'd managed to kill half and hour.

When she finally returned, they were already cleaning up the used tools and throwing away the bloodied bandages. Jane finished cleaning things up, chatting with him easily.

Monica approached her quietly.

"So… What did you find out about him?" Sarah asked curiously.

"You mean other than the fact that he has well-built musculature, a ton of scars, bruises, a few tattoos, and a lot of secrets? … Nothing."

"Well… Thanks anyway."

Monica patted her on the shoulder. "Goodnight, Sarah."

Jane skipped past her and waved goodbye joyfully. "G-night!"

"Goodnight… I'll see you tomorrow!" she returned, smiling. Once the door closed she turned back to him.

"Alright… I take it you traveled here somehow for whatever reason and have no family here, right?" He nodded. She clapped her hands together, a little flustered. "Okay… Ahm, I have a room you can stay in down in the basement. But if you're going to stay here, there's a few things I need to know."

Okay…" he said, looking mildy suspicious.

"First, what is your name," she asked, sensibly.

"Sam," he answered, flashing a perfect smile. "And you?"

"I am Sarah Graynor… I live here with my son and daughter… But that's not… Okay, secondly- how long will you be here?"

Sam shrugged in response. "I don't know yet… No longer than a year, if that's not too much trouble."

"Okay… Well, whatever trouble you were in… Is it going to follow you here and hurt me or my family?"

"No."

She sighed with relief. "Okay… Good then. Ahmmm… Oh! I will be here on the main floor if you need me. Now, follow me and I will show you where you can stay."

Sarah grabbed her keys and walked outside to the back of her house, Sam following her carefully. Kneeling down beside the recessed door, she unlocked it and opened it, turning on the light in the steep, narrow staircase down to the basement as she walked.

"It may not be very convenient for you at the moment… Being detached and the stairs, but it's all I've got and there's no where else for you… So."

"Don't worry about it, it's perfectly fine," he assured her, looking over the half finished basement that might as well have been a second house. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you going to use this place for?"

Sarah looked around at it sadly. "Master suite someday… But I ran out of money for it… So it's just been left like this."

"Ah… I see…"

"I'd like to finish it someday, but I've got kids and they come before personal projects," she continued, rambling just a little. "I used to come down here and pretend it was finished, but I'd rather use it when it's really done. It almost made me sad to sit down here so I went back to using the futon upstairs…"

He walked over the old armchair and set his bag on it carefully. "Do you want rent, Sarah?"

"Oh, goodness, no! I won't make you do that! You just got here and… That's not even fair," she sputtered.

"Not fair?" Sam repeated skeptically. "I'm a little beat up and new to the region compared to you who has no source of real income to take care of yourself and probably not your children and _I'm _the one with the unfair life?"

Sarah paused and tried repeatedly to say something. Sam chuckled and shook his head. "No, Sarah, I will pay you back before I leave."

Sarah looked down at the floor and nodded, leaving quickly. Sam looked around and sighed heavily and released Michael and Cat from their pokeballs. Noticing that there was another pokeball resting in the bottom of his bag. _Zora...? They must have thrown her in here. Though, she really should have gone back home._ He set the ball back carefully. _Nothing to do about it now._

Cat scampered around and investigated the room. Michael simply looked around and then at Sam skeptically.

"Don't give me that look, I know it's not fantastic, but what better place to stay out of trouble than a small town with population minimal?" Sam argued.

Michael's sarcastic scowl deepened.

Sam rolled his eyes. "And the professor lives here so I'll be able to get you guys your shots and you can go frolicking about like you always do."

Apparently appeased Michael plopped down on his feet with a semi-content sigh. Cat came back over to him and crawled into his lap.

"_Why we norra at hoam? Norra Steeven?"_

"Can't go home yet, Kitty Cat… We'll be here for a while."

Cat tilted her head to the side, confused, but accepting. Sam looked at the two pokémon, settling down in their place. "Are you two are going to make me sit in this chair all night just so _you_ don't have to move?"

Cat squeaked indignantly, but made no effort to move and Michael smirked.

"Wrong answer! Move it, you useless fur ball!"

* * *

Soft jazz music sang from a small set of speakers mingling with a few tropical scented candles. From its place, surrounded by red silken sheets on the luxurious queen-sized bed, a phone rang. Not the usual sound, but a soft classical song that meant something to the woman who snapped her attention to it and put her self grooming on hold to answer it.

"I haven't heard that tune in a long time…"

"I haven't called in a long time," he answered with a dry laugh. "It's good to hear from you."

"You too… How's your eye? Did that ever-"

"Gone… The doctors couldn't save it."

She sighed sadly, twisting a black lock around her finger. "I'm so sorry."

He laughed. "It's no big deal… Old wound. Doesn't even hurt anymore. I'm more concerned about you. What happened with Don and Giovanni?"

She sniggered darkly and lay back on her pillows, staring at the ceiling. "Oh, you know how much of a coward he was… And paranoid. I think he knew what I was after. Giovanni… Ugh, he was complete failure and a waste of nine months of my life. Regardless, they are both departed now and I have a new… Tool at my pleasure."

"Mmm… A strong boy?"

"Oh yes… You know, he's already had his first murder. He'll do anything for his dear sweet mummy," she joked.

"Obedient as he should be then," he observed, coldly.

"You have no idea… He'll be a fine assassin when he's matured."

"Not as good as you."

She smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear. "You're as charming as ever, love… I named the boy Vidar, I do hope that doesn't bother you."

"Why would it? It's a good strong name and I'm sure he'll grow up to wear it proudly," he answered gently.

"What about that boy you picked up? How has that gone?"

"I have shaped him perfectly for my plans. Completely innocent yet willing to destroy the world at my signal."

"Ooh… How sweet. Granddaddy Vidar would be so pleased to know his plan will be recognized."

"We've come too far to turn back now… And things on your end? What of the Guild? Are you any closer?"

"I have plenty of moles in pulling information to me and I have a plan. All I need is the right tools and we can overthrow them... Their boss is quite clever and I have yet to identify him... He has a different man at his beck and call that has been rather annoying."

"Annoying how?"

"He's quite talented... I thought at first that perhaps he just following orders and had no thoughts of his own, but I am starting to think I underestimated him..."

"Hard to kill?"

She furrowed her eyebrows with annoyance. "Very..." Suddenly, her eyes brightened. "Although... I think I may have shot him just a few days ago... ... Now that I think about it, that man matched his description. But I didn't get a good look at him. Pity... I guess we'll see if he turns up again."

"It's safe to say that if he was shot, he's probably dead, dear... Well, did you find a good man succeed us when we're gone?"

"Yes… But he doesn't know his purpose yet. We'll have to guide him carefully into the right direction. I have some more commencement exercises to progress him through, but I do aspire to arrive in Castelia in a few months," she told him softly, adjusting the strap of her silken nightgown.

"Then I'll wait for you… Do you remember The Sonata?"

"Of course… How could I ever forget?"

"I'll wait for you there… I love you, hon."

"I love you too…" Slowly, she took the phone from her ear and collapsed it against her chest with a small, lonely sigh.

* * *

**AN:** Well... This is late... But that's okay, right?

Unova begins now! YEAH! It's going to be so much fun!

-Note that OC's submitted to Unova have a much higher chance of being turned down. It's not as easy to throw in an OC as it has been with the other story arc's.

Thank you to my friend and beta, **DarkAngelTorchic**!

**And thank _you_ for reading!**


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